


Patient Love (Is Waiting)

by SHIELD1



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Loneliness, M/M, Magic, Multi, Romance, Slow Build, Snark, So Much Snark, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threesome - F/M/M, WinterShieldShock - Freeform, Women Being Awesome, some light arson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:02:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 26,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3543680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHIELD1/pseuds/SHIELD1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next morning "I stabbed a dude with the scarf I was making" t-shirts were being sold on Etsy.</p><p> </p><p>The world is weird place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which We Meet Victor

von Doom. In which we meet Doctor Victor von Doom, genius, dictator, super villain.

 

* * *

 

 

 

There was an odd knock on the door on the apartment in London.

 

 

It didn't sound like flesh on wood. It kind of sounded like that time the cops had gone through her dorms pounding their giant flashlights on all the doors hollering about an evacuation. Apparently something had gone wrong in the science buildings and a giant green dude was tearing the university apart.

 

 

A second knock shook her out of those memories and Darcy opened the door.

  

              

 

Green cloak, metal mask and armor… it was 2 in the afternoon and still too damn early for that bullshit. "Nope nope nope." Darcy said flatly before slamming the door shut.

 

 

"Who was that?" Ian asked, poking his head around the corner from the kitchen. Darcy ignored him and pulled out her phone. She had time quickly text Thor MAYSAY before the knocking started up again.

 

 

"Woman open this door." Came the heavily accented command as Thor texted back a picture of his confused face.

 

 

Darcy retreated further into the apartment furiously texting back.

 

 

MAYDAY

 

 EMERGENCY

 

HELP

 

 HJELP

 

À L'AIDE

 

 

That should get the idea across, frigging autocorrect. Only…

 

 

AT THE APARTMENT

 

 

There, that seemed important. Thor didn't reply so Darcy hoped that he was on the way.

 

 

The knocking briefly stopped. But then the door got knocked down completely. A figure that Darcy recognized as Doctor Doom stomped over it into the living room radiating haughty grumpiness.

 

 

A yelp and the sound of cabinets opening and closing came from the kitchen. "I come to speak to you woman." He spat. "Darcy Grigore."

 

 

"Nope!"

 

 

" _Do you know no other words!?_ "

 

 

'oh god oh god' Darcy tried to clamp down on her natural tendency. 'now is not the time to snark, don't snark don't-'

 

 

"Nope." She said, popping the 'p' obnoxiously.

 

 

Doom roared wordlessly and Darcy squeaked as she turned and ran down the hall. She didn’t get very far before he snagged the back of her sweatshirt.

 

 

"WOMAN," He roared. Whatever he'd been about to say was interrupted by a crack of thunder marking Thor's arrival on the terrace.

 

 

"UNHAND HER." Thor bellowed.

 

 

"I WILL NOT." Doom yelled back, shaking Darcy a bit. "DOOM CAME TO SPEAK TO THIS INFURIATING WOMAN AND SPEAK TO HER I WILL."

 

 

"You got the wrong person though." Darcy interjected. "That's not my last name."

 

 

Thor was starting to look a little ridiculous standing at the ready in the middle of the living room, but bless him, he kept the hammer up and a scowl on his face.

 

 

Doom shook Darcy one more time before dropping her. Darcy carefully edged around Doom before slowly backing up to stand next to Thor. Doom pivoted as she moved to maintain eye contact.

 

 

"I do not have the wrong woman." he said through gritted teeth. "You are a Grigore by birth."

 

 

Darcy raised a hand, prepared to argue with him.

 

 

"And we are betrothed."

 

 

Thor finally lowered Mew Mew as Darcy lowered her hand, the two of them exchanging stunned glances. "What?" Ian's voice plaintively queried from the cabinet over the kitchen counter.

 

 

"NOPE." Was really all that she could say to the entire situation.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. In Which There Are Jack Booted Thugs

 

Doesnt matter who the jack booted thugs work for, Darcy hates them all equally.

 

* * *

 

 

"NO." Liz gasped.

Darcy had flown to Los Angeles the very evening that she'd met Doom. She had friends there (Well she had one friend there. Liz.) and also Latveria's embassy was in New York. Darcy wanted to steer clear of that.

 

Darcy had always known her Mom was an Eastern European immigrant, but her Mom told her that everyone from the old country was dead - Darcy's father, his family, her Mother's family. Well, maybe less told Darcy, than waved vaguely at the late 80s nightly news coverage of some European war and mutter "Dead." when Darcy asked. It seemed rude to keep asking after that so Darcy… didn't.

 

Doom told Darcy, before he left the London apartment, that her mother, Mariska, was Romani like him and had fled her powerful patriarchal clan to America when she got pregnant with Darcy. Darcy couldn't blame her. Doom claimed that "her clan" - the Grigore's - had recently approached him with proof that Doom's father had arranged a marriage contract between their two clans. Victor was now obligated to fulfill that contract, and Darcy was the only woman "of their blood" who was suitable.

 

Darcy just wished her Mom had said something before she died.

 

"Well, whatever." Darcy said, pulling open the door to the Panera and letting Liz in first. " 'Murica. I'm not marrying some dude just because family I've never even heard of says I have to. Besides, things were getting kind of weird with my British intern."

 

"Ooooooh, tell me about that."

 

The two of them settled in to catch up and knit over coffee. Darcy had only been back for a few weeks, and they'd been hectic. The FBI, State Department and few other governmental agencies kept dropping by to "ask a few questions" about her "engagement" for hours at a time. Also one time she turned on her TV and instead of Netflix she got the Fantastic Four grilling her from their labs in New York. Or outer space. Who the hell knows with those guys.

 

She tried turning the TV off and that Richards asshat just turned it back on remotely.

 

But today was nice! She had hot coffee and a good friend and about 4 inches of a warm cozy scarf she'd never get to wear in SoCal. Most importantly, for the first time in weeks she wasn't talking about Doctor Doom.

 

So _of course_ the Panera blew up.

 

The front wall and bay window they'd been seated by exploded into the café. Darcy was helplessly blown across the room, clutching her scarf and needles as she skidded and flopped across the floor.

 

Darcy came to a stop, deafened and confused and in a lot of pain. She could see the where the wall used to be. Liz was under the table that had been next to them, miraculously unbloodied, covered in Cesar salad and looking terrified. Further down that wall she saw the door swing open to admit two men in black tactical gear, weapons out.

 

With a tremendous amount of effort Darcy pulled herself under a booth table. Her legs - her whole right side - hurt like nothing she'd ever felt but she pushed through it and hid.

 

Long minutes passed. Darcy held her breath and tried to will her purse (taser inside) to slide across the room to her hiding spot. The two men didn't talk to each other but their boots met the floor in unison. They were methodically marching through the café, clearly looking for something.

 

Three guesses what Darcy, and the first two don't count.

 

Delicious bread?

 

Whimsical seasonal cookies?

 

Or Darcy?

 

Darcy sees a combat booted and cargo pants covered leg go by, and maybe bolstered by the sirens she can hear closing in, grips her size seven bamboo needles tight and stabs the guy in the calf.

 

He yelped and both of his hands come down, gun in his right and she pulled the needles out of his leg and nailed him again in his gun hand.

 

Unfortunately, one of the needles went through his middle finger, the trigger guard, and into his thumb. She'd accidentally pinned the gun to his hand! Shit!

 

Luckily she still had a hand on the needles so she yanked them out. As the thug fell to his knees, the gun hit the floor and discharged, skittering out of reach. Darcy couldn't tell where the bullet went. Hopefully it had lodged in this guy's ass.

 

The sirens were right outside the door now and Darcy could hear the cops yelling but they were still out there and a big scary man was clutching his calf in front of her so Darcy came out a little from under the table and stabbed him again in the bicep, again and again, following him as he tumbled to his side. Finally in desperation, Darcy aimed for his temple.

 

He flinched away at the last moment, and she caught him through his cheek, then his mouth, then through his other cheek.

 

The cops were in the building now, piling on to the guy. Someone grabbed her arm and hauled her fully out from her hiding spot. The pain was too much - Darcy fainted.


	3. In Which There Is Yarn

 

If Darcy had known being Internet famous would get her free yarn she would have done it ages ago.

 

* * *

Liz was fine, thank God. Well, her eardrums got blown out and she had a little concussion but it could have been worse.  

 

Like Darcy. Darcy had a concussion, blown eardrums, various sprains in her arms and wrists, 2 cracked ribs and a pelvic fracture which sucks eeeeeeeven more than you think it does.

 

When Darcy woke up two days later her hospital room was covered in flowers. A nurse told her that Jane and Tony Stark had visited while Darcy was unconscious, but they had to go back to New York the day before.

 

Liz came by later that day after a call from the nurses. She brought Darcy's laptop and iPod and then left quickly. Darcy couldn't blame her.

 

The bombing was all over the news. Stupid Doom was on all the networks calling Darcy his fiancé, vowing vengeance on her attackers and blowhards like J. Jonah Jameson were egging him on. Reporters were swarming the hospital and Darcy could hear the phone at the nurses station ringing off the hook.

 

Darcy drifted in and out of sleep for few days, mostly just watching TV, answering police questions, and growing more and more miserable. About five days into her hospital stay, Darcy flipped open her laptop and almost immediately got a FaceTime call. On a lark, she answered.

 

It was a super cute young guy.

 

"Darcy Lewis?"

 

"Yeah. Wassup?"

 

"Richard Jennings, Fact Channel News. How are you doing?"

 

"Weeeellll, I got blowed up." Darcy frowned at him. "Where'd you say you were from?"

 

"Can you confirm your engagement to Victor von Doom, ruler of Latveria?"

 

"I'm not engaged to that jackhole. GOD I hate him… Yer pretty though."

 

"I'm sorry?"

 

"You should be sorry, calling me up with your stupid pretty face. They got me on drugs."

 

"Ah-ha. My apologies then. What do you remember about February 17, the day the explosion occurred?"

 

"Well there was a bomb."

 

"Anything else?"

 

"I was knitting." The corners Darcy's mouth tugged straight down. "I stabbed a dude with the scarf I was making."

 

"I'm sorry, you stabbed a man with a scarf?"

 

"It was just a little bit of a scarf. The FBI says I probably won't get any of it back. 'S evidence."

 

"Won't get what back?"

 

"Yarn. Needles. Was really nice yarn too. It was from a little farm in Oregon."

"OY!" A nurse lunged from the door to her computer, flipping it around so that she could see the screen. "I know you! Reporter! Reporter! FBI said NO reporters!"

 

"Wait!" The reporter yelled. As the nurse fussed with the computer Darcy heard, "This is gold! Five more minutes!"

 

Darcy fell asleep and when she woke up half an hour later her bruised face was on all the 24 hour news networks and a GoFundMe campaign had raised $15,000 towards buying Darcy all the yarn she could ever want. Deliveries from local yarn shops started that afternoon.

 

The next morning "I stabbed a dude with the scarf I was making" t-shirts were being sold on Etsy.

 

The world is weird place.

 

 _But_ full of pretty, pretty yarn.


	4. In Which Darcy Meets A Lot Of Dudes

And gets to stab none of them with knitting needles. Even though she really wants to. Like, reeeeeeaaaaaalllllly wants to.

* * *

 

Darcy has been in the hospital for three weeks. There wasn't anyone to take care of her at home so Stark Industries had set her up with a long term room and a security detail that royalty only wished they had.

 

Darcy just wished that the bodyguards would talk to her more, but they kept telling her they wouldn't be effective if they fraternized with her. It's really hard to remember the names of people who won't talk to her, so Darcy just referred to them by numbers.

 

She missed Jane, Erik and Thor, but fell into the routine at the hospital fairly easily. A combination of drugs and physical therapy meant that her ribs were only a little tender now, and she could walk a little bit in therapy with the aid of forearm crutches and a humiliating belt/handle that the nurses held. At least now in the long term wing, she could wear pajama pants and t-shirts instead of assless paper gowns.

 

She was in afternoon physical therapy, under the watchful eyes of two bodyguards and two therapists when alarms started going off in the hospital.

 

"We're under attack." Body Guard #4 barked. Darcy's therapists broke and ran, leaving Darcy teetering on the stupid two step staircase.

 

"Not cool!" Darcy hollered after them as she scrabbled at the handrail trying desperately not to face-plant.

 

#4 took off down the hall, barking orders as #5 scooped Darcy over his shoulder and tossed her into the equipment closet. Before closing the door he threw a gun and a taser onto the blue mats beside her.

 

Darcy juggled her arm crutches into her left hand and picked up the gun in her right hand. She loved her taser but the gun could fire more than twice.

 

Darcy braced against the crutches and stood at attention.

 

Ten minutes in, the crutches started jerking spasmodically straight out from her abdomen as her arm muscles tensed up. Darcy was really out of shape.

 

Fifteen minutes in she started sweating.

 

Twenty minutes in her arms and legs were shaking. She was desperately listening to the room beyond, but heard no hint of what was happening.

 

Half an hour later her breath was coming in gasps and the urge to lay down was overwhelming.

 

But then a commotion started on the other side of the door. Darcy straightened with a gasp of pain just in time for Doctor Doom to wrench the door open. There was no sign of #5.

 

"Motherfucker!" Darcy swore. Shooting a man in head to toe metal armor would be idiotic, so she elected to throw the gun. It bounced off his cheek.

 

"Now is not the time to be obstinate, woman." Darcy snorted.

 

"It is always-"

 

"Hydra is in the building looking for you."

 

"What?!"

 

Doom silently reached for Darcy, and she flailed at him with the crutches.

 

"NUH UH!!" She screamed. Claiming Hydra was a trick, she was sure of it. A way to convince her to come quietly. She snatched up the taser and shot it into his chest.

 

Nothing. Fuck.

 

Desperate now, Darcy threw the taser at him. It bounced off him again.

 

"Fuck off!" She yelled. Her words were backed up by a red and gold fist slamming into the side of Doom's face.

 

"Yeah Doom, didn't you hear the lady? Fuck off." Iron Man echoed as he took Doom's place in the doorway. Darcy lunged towards him and he caught her and her crutches one handed.

 

Doom snarled at the two of them. Darcy could hear a fight heading their way down the hall, and Doom dramatically whirled around and stomped out the door and towards the noise.

 

Iron Man pulled Darcy in tight to his side before blasting a hole in the wall. A few more blasts and they were flying out of the hospital. They circled the wing once and Darcy got a look through the windows. It was chaos inside.

 

Iron Man landed on top of a tower on the hospital campus that was furthest from the fight. Darcy's feet hit the ground and her legs were as limp as all the hospital jello she'd been eating. She slid down his torso and thighs with her arms wrapped around him until her butt touched the ground, when she let let go and fell back.

 

The sharp gravel (that is for some reason on top of every flat roof in LA) was terrible. If Thor had been there Darcy would have demanded his cape to lay on. She couldn't stand quite yet though.

 

A redhead in a leather bodysuit stepped into her field of vision.

 

"Go." The Black Widow curtly dismissed Iron Man. He nodded and crunched a few steps away from Darcy before blasting off.

 

Widow wasn't a talker. The only noise coming from their roof was Darcy's harsh breathing, slowly getting back to normal.

 

When Darcy had her breathing under control the Widow tapped her ear.

 

"Copy."

 

She addressed Darcy for the first time.

 

"Hydra's been cleared from the building."

 

"Oh good." Darcy replied without moving.

 

"The others will be here shortly."

 

Darcy just grunted. As people joined them, she stayed prone until Widow offered her a hand up just in time for Doom to arrive, perching on the ledge with his arms crossed for maximum cape effect.

 

Darcy craned her neck to see all the Avengers circling her. Iron Man, whom she'd met as Tony through Jane when SHIELD fell apart; Hawkeye, Clint, whom she'd hung out with in New Mexico and stayed tight with; Black Widow, whom she'd met after New York; Captain America whom she followed on Twitter; and - was that the crazy assassin who blew up half of DC last year? The metal arm was memorable. No one else seemed concerned though, so Darcy could roll with it.

 

"Red Skull escaped." Doom said, pulling her attention back to him. Captain America nodded.

 

"Any idea why Hydra's been after Miss Lewis?" The Captain asked. "After she… er…" he glanced at her and actually blushed. "She kept that operative from using his cyanide pill, we got the chance to question him."

 

"I did?" Darcy asked.

 

"With the knitting needles through his face. He couldn't break the false tooth." Hawkeye explained with a cocky grin. "That was badass, by the way."

 

"Aw, thanks."

 

"The Red Skull and I are having a professional disagreement." Doom interrupted. "He knew of my ties to her-"

 

"WE ARE NOT ENGAGED YOU NUTJOB-"

 

"And that she was not where I could protect her myself-"

 

"I KNEW THIS WAS YOUR FAULT-"

 

"Shush, woman!" Doom exploded. Darcy took up her crutches and started to go around Captain America. Doom ignored her and looked Captain America straight in the eye.

 

"I will take care of Hydra, if you care for my intended. Keep her safe."

 

Darcy thrust one of her crutches between Doom's knees and leaned hard to her left. Caught off guard, Doom's right foot slipped from the ledge. Darcy flipped the other crutch up to his sternum and pushed with all her might, knocking Doom off the the roof altogether. In his surprise, he let out a high pitched squeak as he fell.

 

Unable to stop the momentum, Darcy tumbled forward, nearly following Doom over. A huge hand caught the back of her shirt and saved her.

 

Darcy hardly noticed. "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, POSING ON A LEDGE YOU MOTHERFUCKING GRANDSTANDING FUCKFACE!!!!" Darcy yelled after Doom. A familiar wordless rage scream floated back to them, but Darcy was already whirling around to get in Captain America's face.

 

"Don't you ever, _ever,_ _EVER_ SPEAK ABOUT ME AS THOUGH I'M NOT THERE!!!"

 

As she yelled she first smacked Captain America in chest with her open palm, and then grasped the collar of his uniform, using it to hold herself up. He looked shocked.

 

Darcy was jarred from her anger by Hawkeye and Iron Man falling against each other laughing. Captain America's stammered apology only spurred them on and Darcy hid her face against his chest, letting her anger go with a groan.


	5. In Which Darcy Is Drawn Into The Loop

That's a knitting joke, guys. Loop? Yarn? Get it? Eh, Darcy knows she's funny and that's really all that matters.

 

* * *

 

 

Still chuckling, Clint plucked Darcy off of Captain America and up into his arms. They all trooped through the roof access door and found an empty doctors lounge. As Tony fussed around the room to make sure it was secure everyone found a couch to collapse on.

 

Clint laid Darcy out on her own couch before settling next to the Widow nearby. Captain America and Metal Arm dude moved a couch around to face hers before sitting almost at attention. Tony stepped out of his suit, leaving it to play sentry on the door. He spread out on the last couch and started with the introductions.

 

Clint and Natasha, she knew. Tony, she'd gotten wasted with. Captain America was Steve. When their friend was introduced as Bucky, Darcy lifted her head to make confused eye contact with Tony. Darcy had a poli sci degree - she'd written more papers about Captain America and the Howling Commandos in her life than she could count.

 

"Don't ask." Tony advised.

 

"Rolling with it." She acquiesced with a tired thumbs up as she dropped her head back.

 

Tony tossed a little metal cube into the middle of their group, and Jane and Erik flickered into existence, a holographic projection.

 

" _OmigodDarcyAreYouOkay_!?" Jane shrieked.

 

"Darcy!" Erik boomed

 

It was such a relief, seeing those two. Darcy had missed them so, so much.

 

"I'm fine!" She called back. She was surprised to find herself smiling and tearing up at the same time. "I'm fine! I miss you!"

 

"We miss you too sweetheart!" Erik called back.

 

"Where are you guys? I don't know what's been happening." Darcy couldn't find a comfortable angle to see them at - finally she came up on her elbow, and Clint stuffed a big cushion behind her back.

 

"We're in New York." Jane replied, "Stark Tower. We'll see you here soon, right? The guys are going to bring you here, right?"

 

"We haven't decided yet." Tony answered. "Red Skull himself came for Lewis today." He exchanged glances with the Cap before facing Darcy. "We've got a minute to breath now. We shouldn't have left you here like that after the bombing."

 

Darcy broke eye contact with him. It had been an achingly lonely few weeks.

 

"So cards on the table." Tony continued "I think the team's troubles and your troubles are linked." Steve shifted uncomfortably at that.

 

"Should have seen the whole picture." Steve muttered gruffly.

 

"Our individual enemies," Tony grimaced around the word, "are organizing a team in response to us forming the Avengers."

 

"Our best intel tell us that Red Skull is maneuvering himself into a leadership position. THE leadership position." Steve took over. "All our resources have been dedicated to their cabal."

 

A knot Darcy hadn't even realized she was carrying released in her chest. She hadn't been abandoned willy nilly. It was just that the world was a little bit falling apart.

 

"Doom said professional disagreement." Darcy said.

 

"Doom declined to join." Tony answered. "Doom wants to rule the world-"

 

"No joke?" Darcy asked incredulously.

 

"I know, right? _I'm_ already ruling the world."

 

Everyone groaned.

 

"Doom's not a team player. We also know Red Skull isn't taking no for an answer." Steve forged ahead.

 

"Ok. Ok." Darcy organized her thoughts. "I'm leverage to get Doom to join. So Hydra is trying to kidnap me. Not kill me."

 

"We'd rather not take any chances." Clint said dryly.

 

"What I'm really wondering," Darcy continued, "is what makes me so valuable to Doom? I've never met him before. I've never met the family he was talking about. Clearly I drive him nuts. I just don't understand his fixation."

 

Tony made a show of letting his eyes wander down to Darcy's chest, but Natasha shifted - for the first time since they'd sat down - and the mirth cleared from his face. He even shrank back into his couch a little bit.

 

"We were hoping you knew about that." Steve interjected. Darcy threw her hands up.

 

"Mom moved here when she was pregnant with me and she died a few years back. She told me everyone where she was from was dead. I don't know anything about her family, and I don't even have a name for my Dad. Mom pulled my name from the library on the ship she came over on - Lewis for C.S., Darcy from Austen. I've got no ties to Latveria."

 

Steve leaned forward, clasping his hands and looking troubled. Clint got up and paced the room, checking the windows.

 

"Let's back burner that for now. Jarvis, pull together a file on Lewis' family." Tony said. "And let's talk about next steps. Cap, Red Skull is your wheelhouse."

 

Steve was silent for a while, staring straight at Darcy, but clearly not seeing her. He was deep in his own mind.

 

"We run." He finally decided. "Me, Buck, and Miss Lewis."

 

Jane made a noise of protest, but Darcy was willing to hear him out.

 

"Sitting in one place, Skull's going to attack. If we take you to the tower, we'll have another battle of Manhattan on our hands. Bucky and I can keep you safe. Barton and Natasha will follow at a distance as support. Stark and the others will keep disrupting their operations from New York." Bucky nodded in agreement.

 

"He's going to find us at some point. I'm very sorry Miss Lewis, but you're bait whether any of us want you to be or not. And we don't want that. But Hydra has gotten their hooks in everywhere and they will find us. I'm hoping that Stark can take them down without putting you in any more danger. But realistically… they'll find us."

 

There was an angry outburst from Jane and Erik, but Darcy was already nodding. What he said made sense, and Darcy had spent enough time studying him that she knew he was a top notch tactician.

 

"Yeah, let's do it." Darcy said, silencing Jane and Erik.

 

"You don't have to do this Darcy." Jane said. "I can't believe they're even suggesting -"

 

"He's right." Darcy said. "Hydra is everywhere. I read the files that got released last summer. I've been following the fall out. The government is trying to make it sound like the problem is all wrapped up, but there's no way."

 

"Darcy, you're not a superhero. You're not even a scientist. You don't have to do this."

 

"First of all, my degree does so say science." Tony snorted derisively and Darcy shot him a glare. "And second, of course I do have to do this. You don't have to be a superhero to do the right thing."

 

Bucky shot a quick, inscrutable look at Steve at that. (and it was still too crazy to think of Captain America as Steve, but Darcy would do her best, since he had asked.)

 

"Insisting on bunking with you puts too many people in danger. Besides, it's a road trip!"

 

Jane rolled her eyes.

 

"Who doesn't love a road trip?" Darcy asked rhetorically.


	6. In Which A Road Trip Begins

It's a terrible road trip. Seriously, worst road trip in the history of road trips. There's fucking highway bandits and everything.

* * *

 

She and Jane and Erik shared their heartfelt goodbyes as logistics were worked out. Darcy started to ask Tony about her things - meds, crutches, and, most important, all that awesome yarn. He quickly declared himself bored and directed her to the empty suit to talk to Jarvis.

 

Darcy felt weird talking to an empty suit and a computer, but a backpack with everything she needed for a trip was delivered promptly by one of several ex SHIELD agents who matched Darcy's general description - average height, brown hair, excessive amounts of knitwear. Clothes, books, a yellow legal pad, her classic iPod, and the beginnings of her replacement scarf were all she would take with her.

 

The rest of the yarn, along with her phone and computer were to be stashed in a vault at Stark Industries where they would all be safe.

 

Darcy marveled that just an hour and half before, she'd been in physical therapy dreading nothing more than those stupid little stairs. Things were moving so fast.

 

Now everyone was getting ready to play an elaborate human shell game. Five extra Iron Man suits had joined them. Natasha had a brown wig and yoga pants on, and five women who vaguely looked like her were tensely waiting for the cue.

 

Finally, the Captain nodded. All the suits and all the people tromped downstairs to the parking lot.

 

Captain America and a Darcy got on a motorcycle, Bucky bundled a Darcy into an SUV, Hawkeye took a Darcy in a sports car, Iron Man picked a Darcy up, Natasha got into another sports car, and an Iron Man suit pulled up a manhole cover before dropping in with another Darcy.

 

As soon as those two disappeared into the sewers everyone took off - the cars and the bike peeled out, and the remaining suits blasted off in different directions.

 

Darcy's suit headed north.

 

The suit spent an hour taking evasive measures - hiding in parking garages, traveling underground, before finally slipping into Pyramid Lake near the Grapevine. Jarvis supplied Darcy with some tunes, and it was actually pretty cool, hanging out at the bottom of a lake.

 

Finally, under cover of darkness, the suit left the water and headed up to the rest stop at the top of the Grapevine. Steve and Bucky were waiting for her in a little stand of trees. It was Darcy's first time seeing them in civvies - Steve was wearing khakis and a chocolate brown leather jacket, Bucky in an asymmetrical blue navy coat with brass buttons and black combat boots.

 

Steve held out an arm for her to lean on once she stepped out of the suit, and when the suit compressed down to briefcase sized, Bucky picked it up.

 

"Bucky here reminded me of what an old friend of ours would have done if I'd talked over her head like earlier," Steve started as he help Darcy across the parking lot to a scruffy looking black Chevrolet SUV.

 

"Hey, I'm sorry about smacking you earlier-"

 

"She'd've shot him." Bucky said, startling Darcy. It was her first time hearing him speak.

 

"Damn." Darcy said, in an admiring sort of way. "Well I mean, it's not cool to smack you."

 

"No need to apologize." Steve effortlessly helped Darcy into the back seat. Instead of a normal seatbelt, there was harness that hung loose around Darcy's torso, allowing for some mobility, but it would keep her safe in just about any kind of crash. "I deserved it."

 

"S'not like we woulda got anything helpful outta Doom anyway." Bucky added from his post at the open passenger side door. "We gotta million different agendas going a million ways right now."

 

Steve and Bucky got into the car, and as they pulled away Darcy pulled out the legal pad and a pen.

 

"Let's talk about those agendas." Darcy said, already scribbling on the pages. "Who's involved? I've got me, Doom, Hydra - Red Skull gets his own page… - the Avengers…"

 

"We're calling them a cabal for now." Steve said. "They count as an entity separate from Hydra."

 

After an hour there was pitifully little written down and they were deep in the central valley. Darcy was almost embarrassed to pass her notepad up to Bucky for his perusal.

 

It read:

 

Darcy => kick Doom in the nuts

Doom => marry Darcy =>????

Hydra => take over the world

Red Skull => kidnap Darcy => leverage her with Doom => build SuperEvilFriendsClub => take over the world

SuperEvilFriendsClub => take over the world?

The Avengers => not let Darcy get kidnapped => kick all the SuperEvilFriends in the nuts

 

Bucky chuckled as he read it, and made a few quick marks before handing it back to Darcy. She didn't get a chance to read it before Steve pulled into a dark parking spot at a gas station.

 

He went into the station first, and then came back and opened her door. Bucky cracked his open at the same time, but stayed in the car. Darcy and Steve went into the station and Darcy got a chance to visit the ladies. The crutches were too noticeable, memorable, so she wrapped an arm around Steve's back, and he supported her with an arm over her shoulders.

 

Steve didn't even glance at the food options on their way to the door so Darcy only made sad eyes at the chip aisle as they left.

 

She'd barely brought her eyes back to the car when Steve stopped short. He tightened his arm around her shoulders and yanked her to a shadow cast by the building. Jarred, Darcy inadvertently gasped in pain, so she was luckily breathless when they stumbled across Bucky or she might have screamed.

 

Bucky's eyes were shadowed and hard when she saw him, and his metal hand whirred softly as his fist clenched and released. At his feet, a man was hog tied, bloodied, and unconscious.

 

"Clear." He spat at Steve.

 

"Report." Steve snapped right back. Bucky's jaw clenched hard before he lifted his chin a little higher.

 

"He tried ta take the car." Bucky sounded on edge. "No reinforcements. No training. Not Hydra."

 

Steve held still for a moment. "Cut him loose. Make it look like he just caught a bad car."

 

Bucky did as he said, and they returned to the SUV in silence. Darcy swallowed a pill dry, and shifted uncomfortably in her seat as they doubled back down south.

 

When the shaking in her hands had lessened she picked up the legal pad, reading whenever a road lamp made it possible.

 

Bucky had noted that "Avengers don't kick nuts." and scrawled a "haha" over SuperEvilFriendsClub.

 

But the notation on Doom's page got the gears in her mind swirling.

 

Doom => marry Darcy =>???? => take over the world


	7. In Which They Reach The Safe House

And promptly leave the safe house.

 

* * *

 

Steve turned the car down a farm road when they reached Buttonwillow and drove for so long that the 5 had been out of sight for forty minutes when they turned into a gated driveway. The license plate was scanned and the gate opened.

 

No one had said a word since the gas station when they pulled into a 3 car garage. Steve's voice was a shock to her system after the deafening quiet.

 

"We're switching cars. Darcy, go use the restroom. See if there's anything inside we could use." He and Bucky opened their doors simultaneously when he was done speaking. Bucky disappeared into the house and Steve opened her door before moving to the rear of the car. When Darcy got out, her crutches were leaning beside the door and she gathered them up before slowly following Bucky into the dark house.

 

He was waiting for her, half sitting on the back of couch with his arms crossed over his chest. He pointed to a door without saying a word, and Darcy found the bathroom behind it. There were no windows, so Darcy turned on the light.

 

The shower looked inviting - it was a flat walk in with pretty brown tile and it was huge. Luxurious. This must be a Stark safe house. There was no time for a shower though, so she wet a cloth and cleaned up as best she could at the sink.

 

She turned off the light before leaving and made her way to the kitchen in the dark. When she was facing away from Bucky, poking around the bare cupboards, he spoke.

 

"I ain't who you thought I was, huh." Not a question, so Darcy didn't answer. "I sure as hell ain't what you got in your history books, doll."

 

"What, are you trying to scare me?" Darcy demanded.

 

"Already did that tonight, didn't I? Scared you good back there."

 

"The whole-" Darcy stopped herself. Saying it had been the whole situation wouldn't be strictly true. His eyes would haunt her for days to come. So she started again.

 

"Yes." She said flatly. "You scared me earlier. You're pissed at me for that right now. But earlier you made me laugh." She turned to face him. "This isn't my world Barnes. Give me time to reconcile all of that."

 

His snort of derision was like a slice to her gut.

 

"You've got bravado, but that's it. You're soft."

 

Darcy blindly grabbed the only box of something edible in the kitchen and her crutches click-clacked loudly all the way back to the garage.

 

Just one thing was on Darcy's mind -

 

Don't cry.

 

Don't cry.

 

Don't cry.

 

Don't cry.

 

Steve was waiting to help her into their new car, and if he noticed the tension between them he didn't say anything. Darcy realized he'd probably heard them, super soldier hearing and all.

 

Once she was belted in she took another two pills and slipped her earphones in. Sleep never came, but she did finally relax when the sun rose.

 

They reached the next safe house in the afternoon somewhere in the desert. Darcy didn't know where they were and she didn't ask.

 

This time, she got the chance to shower and actually climb into a bed. Her backpack with all her meds was locked in the car, but she managed to drop off to sleep without them eventually.

 

The lights were turned on a few hours later. Darcy rolled over to look blearily at Steve, who was standing in the doorway rubbing a hand over his face.

 

"Dinner and then we're headed out…" Darcy nodded to him and started the awkward process of getting out of bed. "Darcy," he started, tilting his head to the side before he stopped speaking, clearly considering his words.

 

"Bucky's been through a lot." Steve finally said. "His path to to the 21st century was a lot rougher than mine. I, uh…"

 

Darcy looked away and nodded. Steve left without saying anything more and Darcy managed to get on her feet and to the kitchen. Steve passed her a microwave dinner, and she managed to finish half of it before it was time to go.

 

A pattern emerged over the next few days that was dramatically different from anything Darcy had expected, while they had plotted at the hospital.

 

They never stayed at a safe house for a full day. When they were on the road no one spoke except for essential information. Steve lived in his own head, always planning their next step, imagining what Hydra and Red Skull would do next. When they were in safe houses he removed an over the ear com system from the suit they had to coordinate with Clint and Natasha, occasionally consulting Bucky. Those calls never lasted long enough for Darcy to talk to Clint, but he always asked about her. It was sweet.

 

On the other hand, when Bucky wasn't actively escorting her somewhere, he seemed to pretend she didn't exist. He wasn't actively hostile anymore, at least. It still wasn't pleasant.

 

Darcy's meds and crutches were often left where she couldn't get to them. It wasn't every night and it wasn't intentional, just inattention, so it seemed like such a trivial thing to bring up to Steve when they were at a house that she often just went without. It was taking a toll though.

 

It all finally came to a head one night, about two weeks after they'd fled the hospital. It was three in the morning and Darcy was sleeping on a couch, too stiff and sore to make it further into the house to a bed. They'd had dinner when they'd gotten to the house but the guys had eaten faster than her, and she wasn't full when the food was gone.

 

In fact, when Steve shook her awake her gut was twisted and growling with hunger. Pressing a hand to her stomach she bent forward a bit, and her back cracked, which would normally be fine, but her hip area flashed hot with pain at the jolt and a whine escaped her mouth.

 

"Darcy?" Steve asked hesitantly.

 

Don't cry, she thought to herself.

 

Don't cry.

 

Don't. cry.

 

DON’T. CRY.

 

FUCK.

 

The first tear sliding down her cheek opened the floodgates and a muffled sob followed it.

 

"Darcy?" Steve sounded alarmed now, which just made it all worse. As she started to really started to lose it, booted footfalls heralded Bucky's entrance into the living room.

 

"Hey we uh… huh." Bucky said.

 

Darcy had never cried so fucking hard in her life, not even when her Mom had died. She was actually wailing, with her arms up and clutching her head, sobs wracking her body. The thought of getting in another damn car for another silent damn day and night was overwhelming. There was no way she could face it.

 

Steve was patting her shoulder and saying her name every couple of minutes, but ten minutes in Darcy didn't feel anywhere near done. He withdrew and she heard him talking on the suit com. After a minute he came around to the front of the couch and shoehorned himself - gently - under her head, and pulled her up to cry into his chest. Her arms unclenched to wind around his neck and while she still wasn't done crying, she felt a little bit better.

 

Steve rubbed her back soothingly while Bucky left the room, talking on the com. Darcy was trying to match Steve's breathing when Bucky came back, and not really succeeding yet. Steve's hands stopped for a minute, then he settled the com on her exposed ear and wrapped her up tight in his arms.

 

"Darcy?" It was Clint. "Hey Darcy, honey, it's ok. It's all gonna be ok. Can you tell me what's wrong?"

 

Darcy sobbed a little harder at that so Clint just made some soothing noises for a while. Finally, finally, the crying subsided and Clint asked very nicely to be passed back to the Cap.

 

The com wasn't even fitted over Steve's ear before Clint started yelling. Darcy made out the words "civilian", "injured", and "I TOLD YOU-"

 

Steve shifted uncomfortably and Darcy clung to him a little tighter. He resigned himself to a semi-public dressing down and adjusted Darcy to a more comfortable position across his lap as Clint, with a little help from Natasha, chewed him out for not taking care of Darcy and threatened to tell Jane and Thor about this. It was an interesting threat - Thor would beat them to a pulp but Foster could shoot them off to faraway planets, never to return.

 

Darcy was starting to drift off again when Steve patted her thigh and leaned over her. When he sat back up he had a protein bar that he passed to her. Ravenous, she devoured it without even really tasting it. Bucky was back, with a full gallon of water, a glass, and her meds that had been inadvertently locked in the garage the day before. Between the two of them, a surprising amount of water made its way down Darcy's ravaged throat, along with some pills.

 

Steve stood up with her in his arms, and carried her back to a bedroom. She was asleep before he'd gotten the blanket up over her shoulders, and he settled into the armchair in the corner to wait for her to wake up.


	8. In Which There Is Baking

 

Delicious baking that only has a little bit more blood in it than the recipe called for.*

 

*the recipe did not, in fact, call for any blood.

 

* * *

 

 

She rolled over and opened her eyes, jolting when Steve was there, sitting in a chair, just staring at her. Shame overtook her as she remembered falling apart the night before.

 

The two of them just looked at each other for minutes.

 

Darcy broke the silence first. "I'm s-"

 

"Don't apologize." Steve interrupted. " _Please_ , don't apologize. My God, Darcy, you were hungry last night. That's inexcusable." He leaned forward with hands grasped in front of him. " _I'm_ sorry. _I_ failed you."

 

Darcy sat up while he was talking, gasping when her hip cracked. Steve's face tightened.

 

"We're going to stay here for a few days. Jarvis tells me you should have been walking a lot more than we've let you. He suggested you take a hot bath, and walk up and down the hallway a few times. But do whatever you want. Sleep, read… eat. Whatever you want. I'm so sorry."

 

Noise from the front of the house interrupted their conversation. Steve stood and moved in front of her just before the door opened to admit Clint.

 

"Tasha's in the garage with Barnes. You don't want to go out there for a while." Clint said flatly. Steve nodded and moved out of Clint's way. Darcy was swept into a grounding hug almost immediately.

 

Steve disappeared, and Darcy started to pull away when loud crashes and metallic clangs came from the garage.

 

"Don't worry about that." Clint said as he leaned back. "Barnes should be fine. Probably. Eh, maybe." He reached into a pocket on the side of his knee. "Hey, look what I got! Pop Tarts! Strawberry, your favorite."

 

There was a lot of yelling in Russian, but Clint wasn't clearly wasn't ruffled. And Darcy hadn't had a Pop Tart in soooooo long.

 

The sugar rush was awesome after weeks of protein bars and microwave dinners. After she ate Clint helped her to the bathroom with a bath already drawn. He helped her in to soak, and when they got the kitchen an hour later Natasha, Steve, and Bucky were all seated at the counter. Bucky had a few bruises on his face, and everyone was quiet.

 

Darcy spotted some grocery bags on the counter and broke away from Clint to investigate them.

 

"Everything you need for apple crisp?" Clint asked hopefully.

 

"Yeah!" Darcy answered excitedly. "You even got the… cast iron… is that blood?" She asked as she inspected the underside of the brand new cast iron skillet.

 

"Apologies." Natasha said. "Barnes."

 

Bucky heaved himself to his feet and took the pan from her.

 

Darcy watched him scrub it in the sink as she repeated her new Avengers mantra to herself: rolling with it. She turned back to Natasha with a smile. "How Russian of you."

 

"Always." Natasha replied with a smirk.

 

Darcy tried to grab the grocery bags to move them to the table, but Steve got to them first. When he tried to leave her at the table, Darcy gently grabbed his wrist and directed him to start cutting up apples beside her. Natasha was quietly speaking to Bucky in Russian while Clint started on dinner.

 

Clint dished out their polish hot dogs just as the crisp went into the oven. Bucky tried to take his and leave but Natasha made a scary noise and he quickly sat down at the table with the rest of them.

 

Darcy was on precarious social footing with Bucky. After disappointing him so profoundly the day they met, Darcy felt… deflated when he looked right through her. He wasn't looking straight through her anymore, though. Even when he wasn't looking at her she could tell that she had the entirety of his attention.

 

"How did you all get to know each other so well?" Steve asked, making an effort to lighten the mood.

 

"Clint was in New Mexico when Thor landed." Darcy replied. "He was assigned to our lab for a while after Thor left." She flashed him a smile that he returned. "I like to bake, he likes to eat. Makes him easier to take care of than Jane, that's for sure."

 

"Take care of him?" Steve asked.

 

"It's what she does." Clint said around a mouthful of food. Natasha made a noise of agreement.

 

"So Natasha, you were in New Mexico too?" Steve continued.

 

"No. We met after New York."

 

"I'd told Tasha about Darcy's pies." Clint said. "After Foster and Darcy showed up to do science stuff in the city after the battle Tasha convinced Darcy to come over and bake me a pie. Ended up staying for a week to help me work through my Loki shit."

 

"Well actually she kidnapped me." Darcy confessed. Clint blinked at her in genuine surprise. "We woke up and she was in our hotel room shaking a box of pie weights threatening to use them to rip off my fingernails if I didn't come with her."

 

"… I guess that explains why you showed up in a Betty Boop nightgown."

 

Darcy might have expected Steve to blush at that, but he just smiled more genuinely than Darcy had seen him do.

 

"It does not." Natasha said, but her smile for Darcy was fond.

 

"Hey, I bought that at Universal Studios. Maybe Betty's not Whole-Foods-at-midnight appropriate, but I love her anyway."

 

"Why aren't you scared a' her?" Bucky burst out suddenly.

 

Darcy wanted to look away, but she'd felt Bucky's frustration building and knew the moment was important. Even if she never saw him again after this mess, what was said here and now he would carry with him. Darcy maintained eye contact while she thought it through.

 

"I've never seen her the way I saw you."

 

"Bullshit."

 

"Bucky!" Steve snapped.

 

"She's right Barnes." Natasha argued softly. "A fight is different."

 

Bucky kept his eyes locked on Darcy's. "She threatened you. Scared you in your bed. And that's better than me taking care of a carjacker?"

 

"When I was a kid a feral cat with a busted paw bit me when I tried to help. Natasha had that same look that night. People who don't know how to ask for help are my specialty."

 

Clint slowly tilted his head with a frown, realizing he was the metaphorical busted paw, but kept his mouth shut.

 

"Your look was bloodlust." Darcy continued flatly. "And if you'd _just_ …" She slapped the table in frustration. "If there had just been more _time_ , I was trying to just _roll with it_ but then you were _so angry_ and I just didn't know what to do with all of it-" Darcy's voice got higher and higher before the oven dinged for the apple crisp.

 

Darcy jumped and looked toward the oven. She heard a chair scrape and Bucky was gone before she turned back. No one tried to stop him. Clint stood up and clapped her on the shoulder on his way to the oven.

 

"There's the Darcy Lewis I know." Clint said jovially as he pushed some buttons on the oven. "Getting loud-"

 

"Let that crisp cool down-"

 

"Taking no shit-" Clint mumbled around an apple slice.

 

"What did I _just_ say?" Darcy demanded.

 

"…ow."

 

" _Don't spit it back into the pan, my God, were you raised in a barn?!_ "


	9. In Which Kimmy Schmidt Is Quoted

We could all learn a thing or two from Kimmy Schmidt, but be a bro and don't use her to lecture the person who convinced you to watch Unbreakable.

 

* * *

Clint dished out apple crisp for the four of them left and carried the plates out to the living room. Steve and Natasha ended up in armchairs while Darcy and Clint shared the couch.

 

Once she had her plate firmly in hand Darcy turned sideways on the couch and tucked her feet under Clint's thigh.

 

"Jesus!" He yelped, almost dropping his plate. "How are your toes that cold?" He settled a crisp warmed hand down on the top of her feet, warming them even better and making Darcy sigh in delight.

 

"I dunno, they just get that way sometimes." Darcy shrugged.

 

"Anemia." Natasha said flatly.

 

"Well yeah, maybe a little of that." Darcy admitted. Steve flinched.

 

"I do not understand how you went from throwing Doom off a roof to…" Clint waved his hand expressively in her direction. "this."

 

"Well it's one thing when men are… Natasha, I'm sure you've had this happen… in everyday conversations some men will stand too close and lean over you and try to intimidate you to change what you're saying or make you shut up altogether."

 

Steve looked between Darcy and Natasha with horror on his face as Natasha nodded.

 

"Doom is totally one of those guys but way worse. I've yelled at run of the mill assholes before, like the mechanic or my landlord, but Doom totally needed to get tossed off that roof."

 

""That's conflict." Natasha contributed, before pivoting the conversation. "In your day to day life, you try too hard to avoid being rude."

 

Darcy was very uncomfortable with that thought, which probably meant that Natasha was right.

 

"Rude?" Steve echoed incredulously.

 

“I’m always amazed at what women will do because they’re afraid of being rude.” Clint quoted.

 

Darcy pointed to Clint. "I introduced you to that show. Not cool using Kimmy Schmidt against me." She turned back to Steve.

 

" _Wouldn't_ you have thought I was rude if I interrupted your strategy sessions just to get my bag out of the car though?"

 

"No!" Steve said indignantly. Darcy let her head fall back.

 

"Well I guess I'm just an idiot then." She muttered.

 

"No." Natasha corrected. "Just well conditioned by society."

 

"Well from now on, make sure you say something," Steve said. "and we'll pay more attention."

 

"Clint and I will start stocking the houses with food before you get there." Natasha said.

 

"And iron supplements." Clint added, rubbing her cold feet.

 

"We're going to start heading to New Mexico." Steve leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. Darcy was beginning to recognize this look as Steve's chess face. He put it on every time he was planning their next move.

 

"Hydra's closing in." Clint affirmed.

 

"Stark is barely slowing them down." Natasha said. "They know he doesn't have you, Darcy, so they're ignoring his efforts. They run instead of engaging."

 

"Stark has an abandoned missile silo not too far from Puente Antiguo in New Mexico. It's the safest place to hole up and wait for Hydra, and it's an easily defensible place for Darcy to hide during the fight."

 

"We'll let the team know we're headed there." Clint offered.

 

"Two days or so after we leave Montana before we get there." Steve said. "One more house between here and there."

 

Clint set aside his empty plate. "We should get going, Nat." Natasha nodded and stood. She crossed over to Darcy and produced a little gift box seemingly from thin air.

 

Darcy's face lit up and she gratefully took the box and ripped it open.

 

"Lipstick!" She squealed. She popped the top off to check the color and frowned.

 

"… not lipstick?" She asked, examining the metal coils and springs inside the black tube.

 

"Taser." Natasha explained.

 

"Ooooooh, thank you!" Darcy leaned forward and hugged Natasha around the hips. When she pulled back Clint was offering her an identical gift box.

 

"Lipstick!" Darcy cried when she pulled the top off.

 

"Russian Red." Natasha told her.

 

"Don't mix those up." Clint advised.

 

Darcy stood to hug both of them goodbye properly, and Steve walked out to the garage with them, closing the door behind him.

 

Darcy gathered her crutches and quietly made her way to the door to shamelessly eavesdrop. Just as she put her ear to the door jam she heard the solid sound of a hard punch, and a muffled grunt that sounded like it came from Steve.

 

"You said you'd keep her safe." Clint hissed. "You shouldn't have offered if you couldn't take care of her."

 

Steve didn't say anything.

 

"Darcy's already forgiven you. Darcy's gonna keep doing her damnedest to avoid getting in your way _just like I told you she would two weeks ago_ , so here's how it is now. I talk to her every night. I hear anything I don't like and I'm pulling the plug on this bullshit and taking her back to New York myself. You do whatever Stark's computer says to get her walking better. You pull Barnes back off the edge. You _feed_ her. You become as invested in her wellbeing as you are in taking down Hydra _or I take her to New York_."

 

Steve never responded verbally and Darcy slunk back to the kitchen when she heard the car start and began doing the dishes. When Steve came in his chin and left cheek had a huge angry red mark that he made no effort to hide as he headed to the kitchen and nudged her away from the sink to take over.

 

His hands stilled when Darcy impulsively turned and hugged him from the side. She held on until he relaxed and slung an arm over her shoulders to squeeze her gently. Satisfied, Darcy let go and slowly walked back to the couch, and her backpack. She found her scarf, buried at the bottom of her bag, and went back to work on it for the first time since she'd left the hospital.

 

When Steve finished the dishes he came and joined her on the couch, letting her tuck her cold toes under his leg. Darcy passed him a book out of her backpack before picking up her needles again. They passed an hour in companionable silence until Darcy was ready to go to bed.

 

* * *

 

Darcy woke up with a gasp as her bed shifted under her. Bucky was sitting on the edge of the mattress, facing the door.

 

"Hydra called me the Winter Soldier." He said bluntly. "They kidnapped me. They wiped my mind. They remade me into an assassin… their assassin, for 70 years."

 

Darcy was honestly still a little groggy, trying to sort out if this was a dream.

 

"I've killed people. Lots of people. For no good reason, just because I was told to. I'm dangerous to be around. Maybe I'll do it again. Maybe they left some switch in my head and if you say the wrong thing I'll kill again."

 

Darcy yawned, and he turned to look at her. Even in the dark she could see how indignant he was.

 

"Are you listening to me?" He spluttered.

 

"I'm full and I'm drugged. Would you mind coming back in the morning to keep being terrible at asking for help?"

 

"I am not asking for help." He seethed. Darcy hauled herself up to sitting before going limp and letting herself fall off the bed, away from Bucky.

 

Bucky scrambled and caught her before she hit the ground and pulled her back up.

 

" _What was that_!?"

 

"Since having Captain America's trust hasn't pulled you out of your angst funk, that was me showing you that you're perfectly safe to be around. You're welcome." Darcy finished primly, with a little flourish.

 

"I wouldn't have put it so bluntly," Steve said from the doorway "but no, Buck, I wouldn't have put you in the car if I didn't trust you. Please don't do that again though, Darcy."

 

" 'S the kind of trick that only works once. He'd just let me fall if I tried it again."

 

"Yer damn right right I'd let you fall." Bucky said, but with more bewilderment than venom.

 

"C'mon Bucky, let's let her get some sleep. Goodnight Darcy."

 

"You know I never thought you'd hurt me, right?" Darcy called to Bucky just as he reached the door. "I thought you might yell again, or snap at me, but I never once thought you'd hurt me, or let me get hurt."

 

It was dark, and her glasses were still on the bedside table, but Darcy thought she saw Bucky nod before closing her door behind him.


	10. In Which Darcy Shows Off

Ta da!

* * *

 

 

"Let's just go today." Darcy said over breakfast the next day. "I'm good, let's just go."

 

Steve raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?" He asked.

 

"I've walked around the house, I've eaten, I've taken all my meds. I feel good. We should head out."

 

Steve looked between her and the door with his chess face on.

 

"Lemme talk to Clint." Darcy offered, knowing full well that even though the bruises were long gone from Steve's face, Clint's threats from the night before were holding Steve back. He nodded and passed her the com.

 

"I'm gonna go get Bucky." He muttered as he left the room.

 

After some fiddling, Darcy got in touch with Clint.

 

"That doesn't sound like a good idea Darcy." Was the first thing Clint said.

 

"I didn't come up with the idea to stay here for a few days. I don't really want to. It's better now, I swear."

 

"Darcy…"

 

"I want to go, Clint." Darcy said firmly. When Clint sighed, she knew she'd won.

 

"You call me tonight." He said.

 

"Sir, yes sir." Darcy quipped.

 

"You're cute." Clint said dryly, "But I'm serious."

 

"Yeah, I know." Darcy tried to match his serious tone. "Love you too."

 

There was a series of odd choking noises from the other end, as well as the sound of Natasha laughing hysterically.

 

"Jesus Darcy," Clint spluttered. "be a bro! None of that touchy feely girly shit."

 

"Oh, okay." Darcy's smile could be heard over the line. "How do bros say 'I luuuuv you' then?"

 

There was a slight pause before Clint mumbled, "Check the car. I'll talk to you tonight."

 

He hung up. Darcy swiped on some of her new lipstick and when she stood up the guys were waiting by the garage door with all of their bags. She 'click-clack'ed herself and her crutches over to them, and Bucky held the door for her to follow Steve out.

 

Half the backseat was occupied by a monster basket when Steve helped her in. It was a sturdy woven basket with hunks of pastel tule and ribbons fluffing out of it, and it was filled with all the junk food Darcy could ever want. Pop tarts, Peeps, Reese's, chips, and beef jerky were all visible before she even got her hands in it to dig to the bottom.

 

"Oooooh, he gets a hat for this." Darcy said gleefully as Steve started the car and they drove away. She tossed a Reese's Easter egg up into Bucky's lap.

 

"That's yours, Darcy." Steve commented.

 

"Well then I choose to share it." She retorted. "If I eat all of this myself all my teeth will fall out."

 

"There's an image." Bucky muttered.

 

"Exactly." Darcy said, passing a package of Kit-Kats up. "So it's in my best interest for you to eat my candy with me."

 

The ride continued quietly after that for about two hours. Darcy was happy to read and occasionally take a little something out of her gift basket.

 

After two hours, they turned down a farm road and followed it for a mile before Steve pulled over and parked.

 

"Jarvis says you should walk on days we're traveling. Rest stops have cameras that record who visits, so we thought side roads were an ok compromise." Darcy shrugged.

 

"Sure."

 

She gathered up her crutches and waited for Steve to come open her door. It was a little windy out, and Darcy stood with the crutches braced wide for minute before starting to walk away from the freeway. Steve stayed at her side, matching her pace. His eyes were constantly sweeping over their surroundings, but he was aware enough of her that every time she wobbled he'd hold out his hands to catch her if she needed him to.

 

They reached what looked like a good halfway point to her, and she stopped to do some stretches that physical therapy had taught her before turning back towards the car.

 

When they got back Darcy shyly offered her iPod to Bucky, who took it with a confused expression.

 

"Can you hook it up to the radio and press play?" She asked. After showing him what to do, music came through the speakers and Darcy actually drifted off to sleep, half draped over her awesome basket with her arms wrapped around it.

 

They repeated their new walking routine every two hours, and reached the new safe house at about ten o'clock. It was one of the smaller houses they'd stayed in, with only two bedrooms and a tiny kitchen, but a huge den/library. Darcy dropped onto one of the couches and called Clint while the guys brought in luggage and microwaved some food.

 

Their conversation was quick, just a recap of the day and some effusive thanks from Darcy before the com was passed to Steve. Darcy examined the bookshelves as they talked and chose The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to bring back to her room that night, confident that she could finish it before they had to leave.

 

She and Bucky ate together while she read, and when she was done she said goodnight to both of them before heading back to the smaller bedroom. She settled on the bed and powered her way through the book in two hours.

 

Unable to sleep when she'd finished, Darcy put her book down and gingerly stood up and stretched. It felt surprisingly good, so she reached down and was delighted to almost touch her toes. There were no balance issues as she came back up to stand straight either!

 

She could hear the guys working out in the living room and decided to try walking out there without her crutches.

 

Her door opened quietly and she slowly made her way down the hall barefoot, pausing once or twice to grab the wall when she thought she might lose her balance.

 

The couches were in disarray, pushed to the edges of the room to give the guys room to wrestle in the center. It was something that they'd done at most of the other safe houses, though not usually this late at night. Darcy stepped out into the open space with her hands held out and fluttering rapidly to emphasize that they were empty, already singing,

 

"Ta da!"

 

Steve was on top of Bucky, but Bucky's arms were around him and hands twisted in his hair and they were - Steve tore his lips off of Bucky's and twisted his head around to look at her in surprise. Darcy felt her own eyes grow as big as saucer plates.

 

" _Whoops_!" She gasped. Maybe if she just left now they would never, ever have to talk about how fucking hot - how embarrassed- Darcy spun around and promptly lost her balance, because that's the kind of luck Darcy Lewis has.

 

"Fuuuuuuck!" She wailed as she fell. She managed not to smash her face when she landed, but was stuck there on the ground with no way to pull herself up.

 

"Dammit." She whispered sadly as the metaphorical dust settled.

 

After a long, awkward, stunned silence Steve finally asked, "…Are you ok?"

 

"That was about as wrong as that could possibly have gone." Darcy observed hollowly. Bucky snorted, and then clapped his hand over his mouth.

 

"What…" Steve started, but then trailed off. A strangely high pitched, sustained noise was coming from Bucky's chest.

 

"I was showing off not using the crutches." Darcy blurted out.

 

Bucky finally lost it and burst out laughing. Darcy chanced a look over her shoulder and saw Bucky had tossed Steve off of him and rolled onto his stomach and his whole body was shaking with his laughter. He slapped the ground with his metal hand a couple of times.

 

"TA DA!" He howled when he could draw in a breath.

 

Darcy set her forehead against the ground before starting to snicker as well. They stayed that way for several minutes, mirth filling the whole house. Darcy rolled over and saw Steve sitting on the ground, staring straight up at the ceiling and blushing bright red, which set her off on to new peals of laughter, holding her stomach as her muscles started to protest.

 

Bucky picked himself up and walked over to her, still laughing.

 

"I haven't seen Steve blush like that since the first time Dum Dum walked in on us during the war." He said, grabbing Darcy and putting her on her feet.

 

"Oooh God , don't make me laugh any more." Darcy gasped, holding her ribs. Bucky flashed her grin and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Steve finally stood up.

 

"Come on, everyone get to bed." Steve grumbled.

 

Bucky and Darcy nearly fell back to the floor as they leaned against each other and laughed and laughed and laughed.


	11. In Which Darcy Starts A Riot

Ain't no riot like a bovine riot.

 

* * *

 

"I'm gonna pet that cow." Darcy declared, abruptly stepping off the road. Steve huffed, but followed her. Rather than talk about what Darcy had walked in on the night before, she chose to spend the day chattering nonstop about anything - everything - else under the sun.

 

"That has yet to work Darcy. They always run away."

 

"Right, but this time it'll work."

 

"That's the second time I've heard you say that."

 

Darcy reached into her pocket and pulled out a Three Musketeers bar. "I'm trying something new!" She stripped off the wrapper and held it up near the top of the wire fence, crinkling it so loudly that the sound echoed through the valley they were in. The group of four cows stopped meandering away, and turned to look over their shoulders.

 

"See? It worked!" Darcy grinned over her shoulder at Steve. When she turned back, they were trotting to the fence. Darcy broke up the candy bar and tossed it near her feet, and reached out to pat the first cow that poked her head through the fence.

 

"I'm petting the cow Steve! You should too! I'll bet you've never pet a cow before."

 

"I have not, but I think I'll pass." Steve said dryly.

 

Darcy happily rubbed the cow's necks as they joined her at the fence until Steve spoke again.

 

"Ah, Darcy? Darcy I think-"

 

A rumbling caught Darcy's attention and she straightened up just in time to see at least a hundred cows stampeding their way over a hill.

 

"Holy crap!" She yelled, lunging backwards. More cows were behind that first wave, hundreds of them. Steve grabbed her and started running for the car. He tossed her in the backseat and had the SUV rolling just in time for the herd to reach the first four cows, who were pushed up against the fence as Darcy watched, twisted in her seat to see out the back window.

 

Bucky, of course, was laughing so hard Darcy thought he might bust a rib.

 

"They're following us!" Darcy yelped over all the noise Bucky was making. "That bull just went through the fence like it was nothing!"

 

"NO. MORE. COWS." Steve ordered as he stamped down hard on the accelerator.

 

"That's fair." Darcy agreed as she faced forward.

 

An hour later they were driving at a more sedate pace down the highway.

 

"You have to admit it was a solid plan." Darcy said for the tenth time. "It worked, I got to pet some cows."

 

Bucky laughed so hard he cried a little.

 

* * *

 

 

For the last leg of the trip, Steve put the com over his ear and Jarvis navigated for them. They pulled down another side road, and about half a mile from their turn off they saw a part of the gravel road lower down to become a ramp. As soon as they were off of it, the ramp snapped up and they were in a pitch black tunnel.

 

Steve turned on the headlights, and the only sound was Feist cheerily singing away as they drove deep in the earth.

 

The lights were raised when they reached a big empty garage. Darcy and Bucky stayed in the car while Steve went up a flight of stairs to investigate.

 

When Steve came back, he led them up to the porch on a dark wood paneled cabin. The front door was already open and they trouped in.

 

It was unseasonably hot for spring, even in New Mexico. There was a shimmer in the air that made Darcy suspicious that everything was about to catch fire and burn away. The further into the house they got, the drier and hotter the air became.

 

Bucky opened a closet door and pushed aside the coats hanging on the bar. After examining the wooden back of the closet he pushed on the right side and the boards pulled back and slid to the left with a hiss. Behind it was a long cement hallway - about twenty feet long.

 

For once, the silence between the three of them wasn't fraught. They were all just exhausted.

 

At the end of the hallway was thick metal door with a wheel in the center of it just like on a submarine. On the wall directly to the right of it was a little metal panel that Steve opened. His eye and thumbprint were scanned, and the wheel automatically started spinning to the left. Steve tugged the door open when it was done - as Darcy watched it swing by she thought it must be two, two and a half feet thick. Even the Hulk would have a hard time getting through there.

 

Beyond the door was a circular set of cement stairs gently curving out of sight. The stairs, walls, and ceiling were all painted a sandy beige - and there weren't any handrails.

 

"The actual missile silo is just on the other side of this wall." Steve explained, rapping his knuckles against the inner portion of the stairwell. "Stark says he's going to instal a hydroponics farm in the actual silo. We'll be staying out of there though, the residence is underneath it."

 

Steve led the way down the stairs, followed by Darcy. Bucky brought up the rear, closing the thick door firmly behind him. Almost immediately, a chill filled the air.

 

Even with her crutches, and Bucky carrying her backpack, the stairs were a challenge. They were long and shallow, and Darcy kept pulling up short on the steps. Finally, the ten steps down and the fifth time she'd landed on a step too hard Darcy let out a little whine and stopped.

 

"I can't. I'm sorry." Darcy gasped, reaching out to the wall looking for a handhold of some kind, but it was too smooth and the continual elegant curve of the wall meant she couldn't even lean on it without falling down.

 

"Claustrophobic?" Steve asked, walking back up to her.

 

"Worried about Hydra?" Bucky added.

 

"Do we need to go to New York? We can do that, that's fine Darcy."

 

Her hip was fucking on fire. "What?" She gasped, still tapping at the wall in vain, trying to find a purchase to take some of the pressure off her legs.

 

"If it's too much Darcy. It's fine to go to New York if you can't huddle underground, cut off from the world, waiting for Red Skull to come kidnap you to God only knows where. We won't force you through that kind of stress." Steve said earnestly.

 

"Jesus Christ," Darcy started, bending forward to try and relieve the pain and finding that it made things worse. She straightened and found herself at eye level with Steve. " _I meant the stairs_!"

 

Bucky finally caught her as her knees gave out. She dumped the crutches and wrapped her arms around his neck, groaning in relief.

 

"… oh." Steve said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For seriously, next time you want a cow's attention take a peppermint candy and crinkle the wrapper. Every cow, horse, and goat in the vicinity will immediately become your bestest friend in the whole universe.


	12. In Which They Reach Paradise

Well, as close to paradise as a cement hole in the ground could be.

 

* * *

 

 

"Huddled underground, cut off from civilization?" Tony's voice greeted them when they reached the residential floor. "This is the promised land, my man."

 

Tony wasn't actually there, but his face was projected onto the screen that took up a whole wall.

 

"You've got full communications, some access to Jarvis, the Internet, even cable - wanna check out what's on Skinemax?"

 

As Darcy yelled "No!", the screen briefly showed a naked woman in profile.

 

" _Stark_!" Steve sounded scandalized.

 

Tony's face popped back up. "Well you guys are no fun."

 

"Whatever." Darcy wriggled a little and Bucky put her down.

 

"Move Stark." Jane barked, her pale hands coming onto the screen and actually shoving Tony out of the way.

 

Darcy flopped forward over the back of the couch.

 

"Jane!" She yelled back as she inelegantly slid down to the cushions below, landing on her left side softly. Steve set her backpack on the floor in front of her and he and Bucky split up to investigate the space.

 

Darcy didn't want Jane pissed at the men she'd come to think of as "her" guys in the last few weeks, and she sure as hell wasn't going to out them to their team, so after her careful editing catching up with Jane didn't take too long. Erik joined them just in time to hear the cow story, which had Stark in stitches.

 

Darcy got up and started walking around the circular structure, past the three bedrooms, bathroom, stairs to a lower level, and through the kitchen while Jane talked about their efforts against Hydra. She had a crutch on one arm and she trailed her right hand against the wall as she went. After a full circuit around the room she hadn't found what she was looking for.

 

"Where's the thermostat Stark?" Darcy asked when she got back to the couch. "It's cold in here."

 

"No heating kid."

 

"What do you mean, no heating? It's like a fridge down here!"

 

"You're not on the power grid Lewis. Takes too much juice for the solar panels to heat the place."

 

"Figures." Darcy groused. "Men. You made sure you could get porn, but heating isn't a priority."

 

"Hot air comes down the vents during the day, you'll be fine." Tony retorted.

 

"Well I'm going to settle in." Darcy decided, picking her bag up. "Is the kitchen at least functional?"

 

"…should be during the day. I wouldn't start a five course dinner after dark though."

 

Stark shut the call off. His ego couldn't take Darcy being less than thrilled with "the promised land", she guessed.

 

Her guys had claimed a bedroom and disappeared down to the lower level. When she opened the door she heard steady rhythmic metal clinks. For a second Darcy thought it was Bucky's arm doing something... repetitive, but then the sound registered as a weight machine.

 

"Found a gym?" She called down. Bucky just grunted.

 

"Found the gym." Steve called back.

 

A little shy, Darcy just closed the door and proceeded to the bathroom. A bath was just what she needed to beat the chill in the air.

 

They all found themselves eating in front of the big screen about two hours later. The idea of light conversation with them was still new, and surprisingly successful. She and Steve talked baseball, of all things - Darcy was kind enough to bite back her initial response, a quip about America,baseball, and apple pie - and compared their experiences. Even Bucky was interested when Darcy had Jarvis pull up the information about all the steroid scandals of the 90's and 00's.

 

Eventually Darcy had to go to bed, and hugged her guys on her way to the room. Steve squeezed and released her right away, but Bucky seemed shocked. Darcy held on until he awkwardly patted her back, then she yawned and wandered away.

 

Her room was somehow colder than the center room. Darcy left her jeans on and pulled two shirts on over the one she was already wearing before climbing into bed. She tossed and turned for almost two hours before giving up. She gathered up all four blankets in the room and stumbled back out to the couch.

 

She built herself a little cocoon and hunkered down quietly. As quiet as she'd tried to be, Bucky came out to investigate about ten minutes after she'd set up.

 

He was in sleep pants and a tank top, looking tousled and a little put out until he took in the whole scene.

 

Darcy's face was pinched with pain every time she shivered - the jostling made her healing bones ache. Her pale face was all he could see, with the rest of her under a mound of blankets.

 

Without a word he reached a finger into the blanket that was up to her chin and pulled it out to see what was inside.

 

"Too many clothes." He said gruffly. "Keeping all your limbs separate keeps them cold."

 

Darcy just stared up at him, unresponsive. He sighed and grabbed her under her armpits, pulling her out of her blankets and off the couch.

 

"How cold is it in here?" He grumbled as he pulled her first and second shirts up over her head at once.

 

"38 degrees Fahrenheit, sir." Jarvis answered quietly. Bucky grunted in frustration and threw a blanket back on Darcy, steering her towards his and Steve's room.

 

"Jeans off." Bucky ordered as he closed the door behind himself.

 

" _What the hell Bucky_ ," Steve cursed as Darcy obediently undid the snap, pushing her pants down. Bucky didn't answer Steve, electing to just pick Darcy up and shove her against Steve's chest.

 

" _FUCK_." Steve gasped as Darcy's bare skin hit his. He flinched away before regrouping and pulling her under the three blankets over him. Bucky took away the blanket she'd been wrapped in before climbing into the bed in front of her.

 

Between her two guys Darcy was settled onto her left side and pressed back against Steve. She pulled her feet back, settling them against the fronts of his calves, gasping in relief at the same time that Steve cursed again. Darcy was vaguely aware that she should be laughing at Captain America's salty language but she was too busy stealing his insane body heat.

 

As Bucky turned around to give her his back (and face the door, they were both always vigilant) Darcy grabbed Steve's huge warm hand and set it on the exposed side of her face, sighing as her ear was covered.

 

It was Bucky's turn to curse as Darcy snuck her hands up the back of his shirt and buried her nose into the nape of his neck.

 

As Darcy warmed up and relaxed, they all made themselves comfortable in their tangle of limbs. Steve's fingers twisted their way into Darcy's hair, and Darcy's leg made its way between Bucky's knees and Darcy blissfully dropped into the deepest sleep she'd had in months.


	13. In Which Darcy Taps Out

Darcy woke up alone to the sound of Steve arguing with Tony.

 

"You gotta figure out something Stark, last night was miserable. That can't happen again."

 

"I'm doing a million things at once Cap, and this isn't exactly priority número uno." Tony was sounding a little frustrated himself.

 

"If I may sir," Jarvis interjected. "Miss Lewis is perhaps more susceptible to the chill. She is iron deficient, and the medication she is taking may interfere with the ability to regulate body temperature, particularly in her extremities."

 

Darcy dug around while the three of them kept arguing, pulling on a pair of someone's thick socks and Steve's blue jacket over her jeans.

 

Ignoring all of them, Darcy made a (slow) beeline to the kitchen and started poking at the coffee machine. She heard her name a few times, and ignored it until she saw a stream of liquid gold hit the bottom of the carafe.

 

She turned and leaned against the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the great room.

 

"Yuh." She acknowledged.

 

"The vents. Waiting on you princess." Tony said sarcastically.

 

"I'm going to have coffee for the first time in a month before I even think about whatever it is you were talking about." Darcy said primly. She turned around and resumed staring at the coffee maker before Tony's words sank in. Then-

 

"Vents?"

 

"Vents." Tony repeated. "We need y-"

 

Darcy threw up her hands. "COFFEE!"

 

"You asked!"

 

Things might have devolved further, but thankfully the coffee machine beeped.

 

When Darcy had drained her first mug, Bucky had joined them.

 

"Vents?" She asked placidly, gesturing for Tony to speak.

 

"Oh for- the cameras are blocked in the air vents. We can't see what's in them, but Jarvis says that they didn't close when they should have last night, and they haven't all year. You're getting the hot air during the day, but it's getting below freezing at night and you're getting that too. They're jammed and we don't know with what."

 

Darcy looked at Steve, and Steve quickly looked away.

 

"What could that possibly have to do with me?" Darcy asked suspiciously.

 

"The interior grates are too small for Captain Shoulders and the barrel chested wonder to squeeze through."

 

"If you just get in a little further than Bucky could and you shine a flashlight up you should be able to see the problem." Steve mumbled. "There's a bend he couldn't get past."

 

"Eh, what the hell." Darcy said. "I've got coffee. You caught me at a good time."

 

And that's how Darcy found herself standing next to Bucky as he crouched at her feet.

 

They very carefully maneuvered her onto his shoulders beneath one of the three grates that fed air to the residence. Steve stood behind them with his hands steady and strong on Darcy's waist, helping to keep pressure off of her healing hip. Darcy got her head and shoulders through, and planted her elbows to pull herself up and to the right.

 

"I didn't even know you like coffee." Steve said conversationally. "We could have had coffee any day. All the safe houses had booze and coffee. No food, of course, but always coffee."

 

It was awkward going to wriggle about two feet to the right, and then twist to get the flashlight in front of her face so that she could see up the vent.

 

"Coffee makes me pee like a racehorse." Darcy called back as she squinted up the shaft. "Besides, I was always trying to sleep in the car."

 

About five feet a over her head was a fine steel mesh that spanned the metal tube. Darcy tried to focus on what was beyond it, which was mostly a dark tube up to a paper-ish filter that was maybe fifteen feet up. She could clearly see that there was a hole in the paper filter.

 

"I can see daylight were I probably shouldn't… and there's all this white stuff down here… I can't really…"

 

The white stuff suddenly snapped into focus and Darcy wished it hadn't. It was tiny ribs. It was a spine and ribs but no limbs and when she looked up again the walls were squirming like they were alive-

 

"NOOOOOOONONONONONONONOFUCKFUCKFUCK!!!!!!" She screamed. Steve grabbed her at the knees and yanked hard but Darcy had sat up too far and she was banged around the vent but she couldn't get out-

 

"SNAKES!!!!" She squealed. Just as a terrible rattling started up Steve finally manhandled her out of the grate. Bucky snatched her from midair and Steve went about slamming the cover shut behind her.

 

"It's all snakes!" Darcy grabbed Bucky's shirt in two big handfuls for support. "Dead snakes and live snakes and rattlesnakes, its full of them!"

 

Even her super soldiers looked queasy as they eyed the grate and Tony was looked gob smacked on the screen.

 

"I'm out!" Darcy shrieked. "Blow me up, starve me, give me to Hydra, I don't give a _fuck_ but I am _not_ staying in some snake orgy hole!"

 

Steve, Bucky, and Tony were now all staring at her with their jaws dropped.

 

She took one deep breath, then two, and in the ensuing silence she let go of Bucky and marched to the kitchen to yank open the booze cabinet.

 

As soon as her hand closed on a bottle of something amber and expensive Jarvis piped up.

 

"Miss Lewis, alcohol is contra-indicated-"

 

" _I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!!_ " Darcy screeched as she limped out of the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Except of course Darcy gave a fuck so twenty minutes later she was sitting four steps up the beige staircase hugging the booze tightly to her stomach, unopened. It was still weirdly soothing, just to have it. You know, in case a rattlesnake bit her she could at least have a belt before her foot swelled up and fell off or whatever.

 

"Hey." Steve approached her with his hands held out in front of him in a placating manner. "So, I'll be honest, we've got a few problems."

 

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him.

 

"Best news first I guess, Bucky's stuck in the ceiling, I may need some help getting him out," Steve started. Darcy's expression did not change one bit.

 

"…ah, well, obviously we can't fix the vents so it's going to get cold again…" Darcy added a tilted head to her narrow eyes and Steve actually got a little pale.

 

"AndHydraIsInPuenteAntiguoSoWeCantLeave." He mumbled.

 

"What."

 

Steve cleared his throat. "We can't evac. Hydra's in town."

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy stood under Bucky's butt with her arms crossed over her chest.

 

" _Why_?" She asked.

 

Bucky's voice was muffled, so Steve translated.

 

"Bucky thought that since the problem the first time was turning over he'd go in facing up."

 

"That's _how_ , and what if there'd been a snake just past the grate?" Darcy asked.

 

"We poked a stick through." Steve sounded offended. Darcy looked around the immaculate room with a frown.

 

"Where did you find a stick?"

 

At that, Bucky's legs curled up and out of her reach.

 

"… you didn't."

 

Steve sheepishly handed over one of her knitting needles, somehow curved into a softly angled 'L'.

 

"Oh for chrissakes, the Internet gave that to me!" Darcy turned it over in her hands. "It's wood, how did you curve it without breaking it?"

 

"Bucky did it." Steve immediately pointed up at Bucky's bottom half.

 

"Whatever." Darcy tossed the needle aside and walked to the kitchen.

 

"Heads up!" She called to Steve, throwing him the most expensive bottle of olive oil she'd ever seen.

 

Once she was up on Steve's shoulders, she tugged Bucky's cargo pants down enough to start coating his hips. She was definitely tempted to keep pulling, but Steve would probably disapprove. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't have any fun at all.

 

"Is that from the pressure in there or are you blushing?" She poked at the red flush coming down from Bucky's chest. There was an indignant noise from in the vent before Bucky pulled himself a little further in.

 

There was some banging as he pulled his arms over his head, and then he started pushing himself out. As more skin appeared Darcy poured more oil on. When they reached his ribs, Darcy learned he was ticklish. She heard a whoop, and then the metal hand punched through the vent opposite of where her head was.

 

Encouraged, she reached out and lightly poked his side with her finger. There was a terrible wrenching noise, some metal groaned, and then Bucky was blinking up at her from the floor, shirtless, shiny with oil and disoriented.

 

Steve started to put her down, but she smacked his hands away and tapped his chest with her heel.

 

"Lets check the last damn vent." She ordered. "I'm guessing the mesh was fine?" She asked Bucky. He nodded, reaching up to his shirt trapped on the scrap metal hanging from the ceiling.

 

"Nope!" Darcy snapped. Buck paused, right arm extended up in the air. She took the opportunity to drop more oil on him.

 

"Shirtless and oiled. If I'm doing this, I'm gonna need something pretty waiting for me when I come back."


	14. In Which The Waiting Game Begins

Darcy shoved her scarf around the bend in the knitting needle, glaring at Bucky while she worked.

 

"It was so I could spin it!" He said defensively, for the tenth time that day. Darcy had seen him hold the short end of the 'L', twirling the needle so that it tapped all four walls of the grate without opening up the little door and potentially unleashing a heap of snakes on all of them. 

 

He had, sadly, showered and put on a long sleeved shirt as the room cooled. Steve distracted her with a mug of tea before calling the team. 

 

Clint's face was pinched with tension. "They've set up Foster's old lab as their base, and they're not even bothering to be subtle. They've got patrols out combing the town, dressed for combat."

 

"The locals are remarkably nonchalant about it." Bruce added, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he studied a tablet. "Though there is a steady stream of them quietly evacuating." 

 

"SHIELDRA stayed in town after the whole Thor thing." Darcy explained. "I think the townspeople got used to living in the new Area 51." 

 

The Avengers made their plans, occasionally consulting Darcy. The whole team was gearing up to come out. Two days seemed like enough time to give the civilians who would leave the chance to do just that. In the meantime, Natasha and Clint were gathering up as much intel as they could.

 

Clint stayed on the line after everyone else signed off, and Steve and Bucky absented themselves to the gym.

 

"How you holding up?" Clint asked even before the door was shut behind Bucky.

 

"Well," Darcy considered the question. "Holding up, I guess. I'm not thrilled about the snake pits, but Jarvis checked the video feeds and we checked the vents. We're sure there aren't any in here. The cold sucks. I don't like it, but I think they," she gestured to the door to the gym, "they really hate it." It was only eight o'clock, and already both of them were in sweats and long sleeved shirts.

 

"The next few days are going to be hard." Clint rubbed his face. "Sorry about that."

 

"Not your fault." Darcy shrugged. "It is what it is."

 

After they'd signed off Clint's tension had rubbed off on Darcy. She made her way to the kitchen and fussed around between the cupboards and the fridge before deciding to make her best hot cocoa. It killed a whole ten minutes. 

 

When she was cradling her mug, at loose ends again, Jarvis spoke up.

 

"Ms. Lewis, if I may? I have generated a preliminary report on your Mother's family."

 

Darcy made a go on motion with her hand.

 

"A readout is available-"

 

"I didn't bring my laptop, Jarvis." Darcy made her way back over to the couch, settling in. 

 

"… Very well. I found records of a family named Grigore as far back as the 1300s, when Eastern European landed gentry recorded payments made to Grigore leaders who roamed their towns and villages."

 

Darcy whistled, digesting this new information. "And why would anyone be paying them?"

 

"It was said… my apologies, Sir detests this word… it was said that the Grigore family possessed powerful magics. They were paid tribute by all, to be spared from curses."

 

"Fuck." Darcy observed.

 

"Magical curses, Ms. Lewis, not foul language."

 

Darcy smiled into her hot cocoa. Tony Stark's robot butler was sassy.

 

"There is no record of your Mother's birth, Ms. Lewis, nor of her education. A Mariska Grigore is listed on a container ship's manifest departing from Kaliningrad late in 1988, and a Mary Lewis is listed on your birth certificate as a citizen of the United States."

 

Bucky and Steve came back up to the main floor, and Darcy signaled to Jarvis that their conversation was momentarily on hold.

 

"Hot chocolate." She offered, motioning towards the kitchen. While they served themselves, Darcy quietly queued up a movie. Steve set up a tablet on the end table with a live feed of the surveillance cameras while Bucky disappeared into their room, only to reappear with two blankets.

 

"This one of those films we gotta see to catch up?" Steve asked when he passed Darcy half of a blanket. 

 

She shrugged. "Nah, it's just a good movie."

 

Steve flashed her a grateful smile. "That's… that's nice."

 

"No pressure on movie night." Bucky commented. "That’s novel for us."

 

Jarvis held the title screen while the three of them got settled.

 

"Moneyball?" Bucky asked, sliding his right arm behind her, tucking his fingers behind Steve's shoulder. 

 

"It's about baseball." Darcy offered as she picked up her scarf again. Steve surprised her by ducking down and kissing her cheek.

 

"'S nice." He commented. "Thanks."

 

Darcy felt her face flush as she started the next row on her scarf. They all settled in quietly, inching closer together as the temperature dropped.

 

About halfway through the movie Darcy's fingers were too frozen to keep knitting, and she put the scarf on the coffee table. 

 

Bucky made a small noise of disappointment as she tucked her hands under her knees. "I like the knitting Doll. The sound, I can almost… almost see my Ma and sis, every evening."

 

Steve shot him a quick, surprised glance before beaming at Darcy yet again. "Hey, that's great Buck." Bucky shrugged self consciously, a little half smile dancing across his face. 

 

A little uncomfortable, Darcy turned to lean back against Bucky's side, tucking her toes under Steve's leg as Bucky wrapped his arm around her, snuggly around her neck and warmer than any scarf she could make. She fell asleep as soon as her head rested on his shoulder.

She briefly woke up when she was settled on the bed, but someone brushed his fingers over her eyelids and shushed her when she made a questioning noise. Bucky climbed in in front of her, and she wrapped herself around him before falling right back to sleep.


	15. In Which, Because, OF COURSE

The pressure was what woke Darcy a few hours later. Her ribs were being pressed into the mattress and her hips were flush to Bucky's rear end.

 

The force behind her abated for a moment before returning, even heavier.

 

"Ah… ah…hnn…" she heard Steve gasping.

 

"Omigod." She whispered right into Bucky's ear. He came awake with a sharp intake of breath as Darcy whimpered. The rigid bulge pressed against her wasn't exactly unwelcome, but Steve was clearly asleep.

 

"Yuh. Stevie." Bucky said in a rough voice. Steve stilled behind her.

 

They all held still for a few beats before Steve buried his face into Darcy's hair.

 

"Oh no." He groaned. Bucky, unhelpfully, sniggered at him. Without another word, Steve climbed over the both of them and disappeared through the door.

 

Darcy pulled back from Bucky only to be shoved down again when he rolled over her. Once he was behind her, she was yanked back against his chest, metal arm cradling her head. His hips, Darcy noticed, were kept away from her.

 

"Go back to sleep." He ordered gruffly.

 

Darcy fussed for a moment, hugging the spare pillow to her chest while she fought her hormones but eventually Bucky's even breathing dragged her back under.

 

* * *

 

 

When she woke up the next morning, Bucky was sitting on the edge of the bed.

 

"I wanna say sorry." Bucky said suddenly. He reached behind himself, taking her hand in his warm hand. "We coulda had movies and baking all along if it weren't for how messed up my head is."

 

Darcy pulled herself up and pressed tight against his back.

 

"I ain't had much contact with civilians since Steve brought me in. I was too dangerous at first. Then…"

 

"Then the world got a little narrow?" She asked, laying her head on his shoulder. "Does Steve even know any normal people? Not SHIELD or army or Tony Stark?" Jane didn't, and that disastrous sea bass date was brought up every time Darcy tried to prod her out of her shell.

 

Bucky thought about that. "Ya know… I don't think he does. I mean, he remembers them from… from before, better than I do, but he doesn't really get out much now."

 

Darcy reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "We're good, Bucky. Thank you, for the apology. You should probably go find Steve. I'm thinking pancakes for breakfast."

 

Bucky turned and swept her into a tight hug. "You're so good 'ta us. Better'n we deserve, that's for damn sure." Darcy couldn't think of what to say to that, so she hugged him back tightly, listening to his harsh breathing. When it had quieted, Bucky pulled her around and put her on her feet, leaving his hands on her hips until she had found her balance. Then he turned her around, pointing her at the door.

 

"You shower. I'll figure out the pancakes."

 

"Are you saying I smell bad?" Darcy asked, feigning offense.

 

"Not even a little, doll." Bucky chuckled. Darcy flushed, and padded out of the room.

 

The shower was warm enough to take the chill out of the bathroom, and Darcy took her time, scrubbing her fingernails over her scalp to work the shampoo in deep. She was feeling good - relaxed, loose.

 

So _of course_ the water shut off before she could rinse her hair.

 

The lights dimmed, and the door almost exploded inward. Darcy shrieked, trying to clear water from her eyes, cover herself, and not fall over all at the same time.

 

" _Bucky_!" Steve sounded exasperated. "I meant _through_ the door!"

 

Bucky clapped a hand over his eyes, standing in the middle of the bathroom. "Hydra." He reported. "They're on the grounds. Almost to the cabin."

 

"Fuck-fuck-fuckity-fuck." Darcy chanted. "Give me a towel, Barnes."

 

Keeping his eyes covered, Bucky turned around. He groped around in front of him for the towel rack and tossed one blindly over his shoulder. Darcy leaned out of the shower to catch it, bringing it first to her face. When her eyes were cleared, she glanced through the door to the main room. Steve was watching the scene with his mouth agape. Darcy didn't have to glance down to know that her breasts were waving in the wind - but she looked at them anyways, before covering up with the towel. When she looked back at Steve he was looking straight up at the ceiling - not out of embarrassment.

 

After a beat, Darcy could hear it.

 

Voices were filtering down through the vents.


	16. In Which The Stuff Of Nightmares Is Made

They all held their breath, suspended in a moment of tension. Darcy could make out two distinct voices, just barely. Bucky broke the moment, inching noiselessly past her to stand opposite of Steve under the mangled vent he'd fallen from the day before.

 

Darcy secured the towel under her armpits and backed into the kitchen.

 

Words were projected onto the wall - **Sir and the team are nearly arrived. ETA 7 minutes**. - from Jarvis. Darcy's stomach tied itself up in knots from the fear. This was it. The big fight. Fuck, she might puke.

 

After a moment, Darcy pulled herself together. She needed clothes and her crutches. Neither of the soldiers were looking at her as she started sidestepping towards the room that had her backpack. She was almost around the counter before a low hiss filled the silent room, stopping her dead in her tracks.

 

It got louder, and louder, nearly drowning out the sound of groaning metal from the desert above their heads.

 

"… something… check…" Filtered down as the hissing and rattling became deafening before-

 

A thunk. A thud. And then screams. Full of agony, and terror. And getting closer and closer. Steve and Bucky backpedaled away from the grate. Bucky snatched Captain America's shield from its place along the wall and hurled it to Steve. The bottle of booze from the day before was on the counter by Darcy's hand and she grabbed it to arm herself.

 

Steve ran past her, hooking an arm around her stomach, pulling her in to his side as he headed for the stairs. Bucky was behind them, pistol in his hand. Darcy looked past him to the mangled vent as something slammed hard into it. The metal strained, before giving up with a groan.

 

A giant writhing ball of snakes that must have been five feet in diameter crashed to the ground, that quickly deformed to reveal… it didn't look like a man. A lump of swollen, purple, bleeding flesh, wearing combat boots was at ground zero as snakes scattered throughout the rooms. Darcy thought she saw his chest rise and fall once before Steve whisked her up the stairs. She wasn't wearing her glasses though. Maybe it was just something her panicked mind supplied for her.

 

Steve dropped her to open the giant metal door, and she barely managed to keep her feet, grasping helplessly with her left hand at the featureless wall as Bucky stood between her and the serpents below, pistol held low and steady.

 

Steve got the door open a sliver and passed the shield to Bucky before squeezing through. Darcy's heart stopped when he disappeared from view.

 

"Clear." He called back, and Bucky started backing up, crowding Darcy through to the long cement hallway. When they were in, Steve pushed the door closed, careful to keep quiet. When it was shut and sealed, they took stock. Bucky and Steve glanced each other over first, and were quickly satisfied that neither was hurt. They turned to Darcy.

 

"OK?" Steve asked. Darcy actually thought about that for a beat.

 

"I mean… No bites." She offered. "Nightmares forever though."

 

Bucky snorted. Steve grimaced. Darcy let out a shaky laugh before covering her mouth. She glanced down at her right hand, noticing the bottle she was clutching, and fought back the urge to laugh again. Dimly, she was aware that she might be hysterical.

 

Abruptly, she set the bottle down. She adjusted her towel and slid down to the floor.

 

"Any chance that took seven minutes and the cavalry is here?" She asked hopefully.

 

"More like 40 seconds." Bucky corrected. Darcy groaned, and started to hide her face against her knees. The minute her eyes shut, her brain supplied her with a replay of the snake ball falling from the ceiling. She opened her eyes with a shaky gasp, turning her head to watch Steve as he stationed himself and his shield at the wall that opened to the house.

 

Darcy didn't trust her sense of time anymore. It might have been seconds, it might have been hours that they stayed frozen, all of them straining to hear what was happening beyond the hallway.

 

Darcy jumped at a tap to the wall Captain America was stationed at. She braced herself against the bottle, using it to help her find her feet again, and wrapped both hands around its neck, ready to smash it in some Hydra face if she needed to.


	17. In Which Darcy Is Definitely Not A Stark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a peek into my inspiration:
> 
> http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-07.html

* * *

 

 

"Wilson."

 

"I'm extraction today." Falcon explained. "Hydra and Red Skull are here. This is it."

 

Steve - Captain America. Captain America nodded curtly, and glanced back over his shoulder down the hallway. The Winter Soldier came up behind Darcy, wrapping a supportive arm around her waist and half carrying her to the mouth of the hallway. Falcon reached for her, but she hesitated and turned back.

 

She lifted her hand to the Winter Soldier's cheek and locked eyes with him.

 

"Thank you." She said.

 

Bucky shone through for a minute, and he leaned down and kissed her cheek. She turned to Steve, and slid her hand up to his shoulder. His free arm came up, and he wrapped her up tight as she clutched around his neck.

 

"Be safe." She choked out through sudden tears. He pressed a kiss to her other cheek and withdrew wordlessly.

 

Both Captain America and the Winter Soldier stepped back as Falcon secured Darcy to his front, face to chest. He tapped a communicator onto her ear, so that she could hear him and the team.

 

"We're gonna go fast." He warned her. Darcy just nodded and doubled the grip she had on the bottle behind his back.

 

They flew right up through the roof of the cabin with a loud crash, and continued east.

 

The wind was loud, and Darcy was too worried about her towel, and her whipping hair, to think too much about what was going on around them, even if she had been able to see anything other than Falcon's red chest.

 

"So you grabbed scotch before you left, but not pants?" Tony Stark asked incredulously through the com.

 

"Its almost as though you two are related." Black Widow remarked dryly. Tony choked and spluttered.

 

"Falcon-" Clint warned. They stopped abruptly, and dropped like stones. Falcon spun once, shooting down two Hydra agents in jetpacks. Darcy was jarred, and could see over his shoulder that a third was closing in.

 

"Your six!" Clint yelled. Falcon moved directly to his right, Darcy took aim and smashed the bottle over the Hydra agent's head as he shot past them. Darcy didn't see what happened after that, but a series of explosions sounded like a positive development. There was stunned silence over the coms for a moment.

 

"Ok, you're definitely not my kid." Tony declared. "No Stark would ever waste a bottle of scotch like that."

 

"I didn't get a chance to grab my knitting needles." Darcy explained, before Falcon took off. She clutched the rest of the bottle and wrapped herself around him.

 

"Banner, we're about ready for you to join the party." Hawkeye called out.

 

"Oh… Ok. I'm ready whenever." Doctor Banner's soft voice replied.

 

"We're coming to you." Falcon said.

 

They flew on with no more interruption, low to the ground. Darcy's face was pressed to Falcon's chest as she listened intently to the fight over the coms, so she was surprised when they abruptly stopped. Her feet found cold metal, and she staggered back, taking in her surroundings.

 

"Didn't I read a chapter book set in a train car in second grade?" She asked.

 

"Mm. Boxcar Children." Doctor Banner confirmed as he looked everywhere in the train but directly at her. It was rusting metal, painted a mustard yellow. It was empty except for the three of them. "I had the same thought. I believe their's was wooden though."

 

"Doc, could we get your-" Falcon waved his hand in the general direction of Banner's chest, trailing off as he listened to the fight. "Then you should head out."

 

"Oh! Of course." Banner's hands shot up and started to undo his shirt. Soon, Darcy was holding his clothes and he was jumping out onto the tracks. Falcon closed the door behind him, leaving a little opening for light and air. A satisfied roar reverberated around the car as Darcy pulled his pants up around her waist. It was a lost cause, they would never stay up without a belt, but after fleeing her shower in a towel those khakis covering her ass seemed like armor against the scenarios her own mind was throwing at her.

 

As Darcy lowered herself to sit against the back of the train car she listened intently to the fight. The team had lost sight of Red Skull. Hawkeye and Widow were pinned down by a tidal wave of ground troops back at the cabin, and Iron Man and the Hulk were headed over to back them up. Cap and the Winter Soldier were hunting for Red Skull, and Thor was still incoming, bringing a weapon from Jane and Erik. Falcon was crouched by the doors, ready for-

 

The train started moving with a jolt that rocked him for just a moment, but that was enough for a black clothed arm to reach through and yank him out.

 

"Guys!?" Darcy yelped, trying to find her feet. The com fell to the ground, and she palmed it just as the doors opened fully.

 

"Fräulein." The world slowed down for Darcy. As she looked up and met his eyes the fear seemed to fall away. Her anger centered her.

 

"Asshole." She replied with a snarl, still struggling to rise to her feet. Her com had fallen silent, and she subtly slipped it into the pocket over her chest when Red Skull tipped his head back to laugh. Darcy gave up on standing, and flopped gracelessly to the side. The sharp bottle neck was hidden between her back and the wall.

 

The train was picking up speed, but Red Skull could stand in the door without a handhold, looking smug and solid over every bump. Four of his men joined him, flying in on jet packs, two on either side of him stepping forward and fanning out into the car.

 

"Or is it Fräu?" Skull mused. "Have you… joined with your betrothed yet?"

 

"Oh for FUCK'S SAKE-" Darcy started. A jack booted thug stepped up, crouched down, and slapped her across the face. Hard.

 

"You will show respect-" He barked, before Darcy whipped her head back around to stare him dead in the eye as her right hand came up with the bottle neck.

 

She buried the jagged end right into his exposed groin.

 

He screamed, falling back, already spewing blood through the rip in his pants as Darcy yanked the glass out. Captain America came through the door, knocking two of the stunned thugs out of the train and engaging Red Skull. Winter Soldier came through right after him, heading for Darcy. His eyes widened when he took in the scene, but Darcy only saw him peripherally. She drew back the glass, ready to strike again when familiar hands got in her way, lifting her to her feet.

 

"Let me go!" She yelled, kicking out.

 

Further conversation was drowned out when the Hydra agent brought his hand up to his face.

 

"My balls!" He screamed. He was indeed holding one of his balls, bloody and severed, that had fallen out through the tear in his pants. Darcy was close enough to Bucky to hear his empathetic gasp before she was bundled up and tossed off the train.

 

If someone was supposed to catch her, they missed. Darcy hit the ground hard, losing her breath for a minute as she tumbled ass over teakettle on the hard desert sand.

 

She came to rest on her back, blinking up at the sky, trying to suck air into paralyzed lungs.

 

After an eternity she succeeded. She hauled in her first lungful as she hauled herself up to a seated position.

 

"DAMMIT!!" She howled on the exhale, punching the ground. She'd lost her only weapon and the train was whizzing past her, throwing her hair around her eyes. Bloodlust carried her through as she finally scrambled up to her feet.

 

She didn't see any Avengers. She turned a tight circle, just to make sure. When she turned back to face the train, her field of vision was blocked by metal and green.

 

"DAMMIT!!" She yelled again, slapping a hand against Doom's chest. He didn't say anything. Darcy tried to back up, but she just ended up falling on her ass. The pain of all that falling finally caught up with her and she gritted her teeth as she flinched away from her hip. She breathed through it, and reached for the com in her pocket.

 

Before she could get it to her ear, Doom had blasted it out of her hand.

 

"There's no Iron Man coming this time." He told her, folding his arms over his chest. "All of your friends are… indisposed."

 

"Fuck you." Darcy seethed, her jaw tight and head held defiantly high. Doom tipped a mocking bow to her.

 

Then two darts shot out from the vicinity of his elbow and embedded themselves in her neck. She was unconscious before her back hit the desert floor.


	18. In Which There Is A Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly it goes about as well as any other family reunion.

Darcy briefly surfaced from unconsciousness, crammed into a tight metal container with her knees up by her chin and her fists trapped tight to her sides. She started to yell, and then a sweet smelling gas filled the space. She didn't know anything more after that.

 

Darcy came fully awake when she hit cold, hard ground. Looking up, she saw a Doombot, empty chest cavity visible through a door that was swinging shut. She realized she'd been jammed into it, and brought God only knew how far from Puente Antiguo. Fuck, everything hurt.

 

When heavy metal footsteps heralded Doom's arrival, Darcy rolled onto her side facing away from him. She realized she was on a cobblestone floor, and that she was underneath a torch that was lighting the room.

 

Latveria, then.

 

A pair of glasses were tossed over Darcy's side, within her reach.

 

"Welcome to your new home." Doom said. Darcy didn't say anything as she slipped the specs over her nose.

 

New footsteps followed Doom, and drew closer to Darcy. With no warning, a booted foot sharply kicked her in the kidneys. Darcy couldn't hold in a cry of pain, rolling away from the blow and bringing Doom and his guest into her view.

 

"You certainly are Mariska's daughter." A man with brown hair, streaked through with shocking white sneered. He had a goatee, twisted to points at the bottom of his beard and both ends of his mustache. "Insolent. Petulant. Ungrateful."

 

"I must protest." Doom said evenly. "No one is to lay a hand on her under this roof."

 

The new man crouched down and grabbed a handful of Darcy's hair, bringing her face to his for inspection.

 

"She ain't yours yet." His breath was hot and rancid on her face. "Not till I say, von Doom."

 

"Lafcadio." Doom's voice didn't change, but Darcy's hair was released, and the man stood. He stood, and snapped his fingers twice as he turned his back and walked out of the antechamber. Four women who shared Darcy's long face and pointy chin, ranging from middle aged to elderly scurried to Darcy, helping her up silently and guiding her from the room. Doom followed them down a dimly lit hallway that opened into a large room, covered in banners bearing Doom's crest that was dominated by a grand staircase that was lushly carpeted in green.

 

He lifted Darcy into his arms and took the lead up the stairs.

 

"That won't happen again." He told her stiffly, without looking at her.

 

"What, do you want a fucking cookie?" Darcy asked bitterly. Doom didn't reply.

 

"You must not speak to him like that." The oldest woman in the group scolded her. "He will be good to you."

 

Darcy barked a laugh with no humor. "He kidnapped me." She said disbelievingly. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to mary him. I don't want to fu-" Darcy choked a little. "I don't want to touch him." The women tutted at her.

 

"I don't _ever_ want to touch him." Darcy clenched her jaw. "But he's going to rape me anyway." Doom's arms clenched around her once, then released.

 

"Why?" She demanded as he set her down at the top of the stairs. Doom turned and stalked away to the left as Darcy was pulled to the right. "Why?" Her voice rose. "Why, why, DAMN YOU, WHY!?!?"

 

"Calm yourself." The old woman reached up to Darcy's face, pulling on her cheek to face Darcy forward. Darcy fell silent again, and was led to a large room. It held six beds, three on each side all with four wooden posts and extravagant curtains. It was lit by metal torches, seven feet up and bolted to the walls. Dresses and fabric were strewn everywhere. Right under the window was a beautiful white gown on a dress form, with a high lace neck and lace down the arms, and subtle embroidery over the skirt.

 

Darcy hated it.

 

Doctor Banner's clothes were stripped from her, despite her protests, and she was shoved into foreign clothes - hideous granny panties, a long black skirt and a shapeless long sleeved cream colored shirt belted at the waist, covered by a vest. A knock sounded at the door, and the room fell silent.

 

The door opened to reveal Lafcadio. He walked in, and circled Darcy once.

 

"Whatchu got in you, girl?" He asked with a smirk. "You got any of the family gifts?"

 

Darcy raised her left eyebrow and stayed silent.

 

"Your whore Mama didn't. Lazy, useless-"

 

Darcy spit in his eye. Maybe perfect aim was her power?

 

His smile disappeared in a flash. He grabbed her jaw in his left hand, forcing it open. He held out his right hand, ignoring Darcy's flailing fists, and the same woman who'd spoken to her before gave him a canteen that he quickly shoved into Darcy's mouth. A bitter liquid flooded over Darcy's tongue, and if she hadn't swallowed she would have drowned. After she'd swallowed twice, she was viciously shoved to the ground. Lafcadio spoke, but she couldn't make out the words through her coughing. There was a bit of a commotion from the other women in the room, before Darcy was grabbed and stuffed into a hastily emptied wardrobe.

 

It was black inside. Darcy could feel the wood beneath her, and the fabric of a full skirt in front of her. As she got her breathing under control she reached up with shaking hands to grab fistfuls of the skirt and press in to her face. Coughing became tiny sobs, muffled by skirt, and her head began to spin. Her muscles became loose, and she slumped forward. Dimly, she realized she'd been drugged.

 

Darcy cried for an eternity, softly. Slowly, so slowly, she realized that there were legs in that skirt. Familiar warm legs. And a familiar smell reached her nose. She looked up. Her mother's face looked back, glowing softly white, a smile touching her lips, but crying along with her daughter.

 

"Mmmm-Mmmm-Mm-"

 

Darcy's mom reached down and laid a finger over her lips.

 

"Don't let them hear you." Darcy's face twisted, but she nodded. Her Mom's voice was a soft whisper, bypassing her ears and appearing by magic in her mind.

 

"Oh, my baby." Her Mom whispered. "My strong, smart, beautiful Darcy. I'm so sorry. You have to do what I couldn't. You were always so much stronger than I was. I'm so sorry."

 

"I'm all alone." Darcy gasped. A gaping chasm seemed to open underneath her when she admitted it. "No one can help me. Not here."

 

Her mother dropped to her knees and wrapped her up tight. "I will help you."

 

The doors opened and Darcy was yanked out by her right arm. She couldn't seem to keep her head up straight. Doom was there.

 

"We did not agree upon this test." He was yelling.

 

"I told you, she ain't yours yet. I'll test her however and whenever I damn well want."

 

Doom pulled Darcy closer, supporting her with an arm around her waist.

 

"We know now she ain't got it in her. She sniveled in there an hour, and nothing." Lafcadio scoffed. "You still need us for the transfer."

 

Her Mom was standing in the corner, holding her index finger over her lips. Darcy closed her eyes for a minute.

 

…

 

When she opened them again, she was seated on a long wooden bench at a long wooden table. There was a plate of food in front of her. She looked to her right. Her Mom was sitting right next to her, but no one had given her any food, so Darcy nudged her plate over to share. A metal covered hand reached out and pulled it back in front of Darcy. Full throated sniggering came from the opposite end of the table and Darcy looked around.

 

Lafcadio was sitting at one end of a table big enough to sit twenty people, and his plate was piled high with enough food to satisfy a small village. Three of Darcy's (thus far) nameless relatives sat opposite of her. The oldest sat at Lafcadio's right hand. Darcy sat (or slouched) at Doom's right hand, and when she looked through her oddly transparent mother, she could see the final female Grigore was seated as far from her as was possible without falling off the bench.

 

"You try my patience." Doom snapped at Lafcadio.

 

"Complete the transfer and pay me and we'll gladly be on our way." Lafcadio shot back. "Your walls make my skin crawl."

 

Darcy nudged her plate back over to her Mom.

 

"My brother." She sighed. "He was always such a shit." Darcy reached out and picked a potato off the plate, nibbling it while her Mom observed her family.

 

"My mother." Mary Lewis pointed. "She's very… well. Her father and husband knocked her around. Then she did the same to her daughters. To me."

 

"My cousin." The woman sharing Darcy's bench was next. "And my sisters." Darcy's Mom was suddenly behind them. Doom pulled Darcy's plate back to its place again. Darcy left it alone.

 

"They got so old." Darcy's Mom observed. When she dragged her hand through her sister's coarse greying hair, it blew back as though caught in a breeze. "They all did."

 

"-ome." Doom snapped impatiently. Darcy blinked at him. The fog in her brain was starting to clear. As she focused on Doom, her mother faded.

 

"If you won't eat, you will come with me." Doom repeated. Darcy considered dumping her plate over his head, but as though he could read her mind, the plate was moved out of her reach. His hand around her elbow had her on her feet in no time, and she was led to the throne room, her right arm held tight in Doom's grasp.

 

Darcy recognized it, she'd seen it on TV before, but it was changed. Benches were arranged on either side a green carpet - an aisle. There was a low table covered by a sort of arch in the place of Doom's throne, an altar she supposed. Doom's banners were the only things that remained from the iconic setting. There were green, black, and silver ribbons and flowers strewn all around the rest of the room.

 

"That little shit." Darcy's Mom seethed in the back of Darcy's mind. "It's my wedding, recreated. He couldn't force me. So now he'll force you."

 

A tiny box was pressed in Darcy's left hand. The rough texture on its sides told Darcy that it was a matchbox. She tucked it into her belt as quietly and unobtrusively as she could. When she put her hand down back to her side, her mother's warm hand wrapped around it, squeezing tight. Doom was speaking, but Darcy paid him no mind.

 

"You know what you have to do, love." Darcy nodded. " _Ruin_ it. _Destroy_ it. _Desecrate_ it. "

 

" ** _Burn. It. Down._** "


	19. In Which The Light Arson Occurs

"We will commence when you are well." Doom told Darcy. "Your wretched family will depart once we are wed and your uncle has fulfilled his contract with me."

 

"I don't much care for you either." Lafcadio was lurking behind them, arms crossed over his chest and eyeing the altar with glee in his eyes. "Just get this over with tomorrow."

 

Doom swept Darcy up into his arms again. "I will have to live with her once you are gone." Doom said. "I would not have the wedding night be overly painful for her." With that, they left the room. Lafcadio's laughter followed them out.

 

"Doesn't really matter when you do it." Darcy said firmly. "Whenever you do this to me, however you do it, it's not going to be anything but rape."

 

"We shall see." Doom walked into the bedroom that the Grigore women were using, and it was mercifully empty. Doom shut the door behind himself when he left, loudly locking it.

 

Something about the drugged drink - the test? - had brought her mother back to her. Darcy was half convinced that she'd hallucinated, but when she checked, the matches were in her belt.

 

As quickly as she could, Darcy grabbed the discarded canteen from earlier and limped to the beds furthest from the door. The matches got stashed under the pillows, the canteen under a pile of fabric. The door opened when she was standing in front of the gown, studying it.

 

"You like the dress." Her grandmother said.

 

"Not even a little." Darcy said. Her grandmother's hand raised to slap her, but Darcy stared her down, daring her. In the end, the hand withdrew.

 

"Ungrateful bitch." She muttered instead, turning to the bed closest to the door. Darcy ignored her and hunted up the clothes she'd been brought to the castle in. She changed back into Doctor Banner's shirt and climbed beneath the covers of the bed that hid the matches. Soon after, the torches dimmed, and then extinguished.

 

Darcy lay on her back, hands folded over her stomach, staring up into the dark, waiting and listening. When everyone in the room had been asleep for an hour, Darcy reached off to the side and pulled the canteen towards herself and took one quick swallow from it. She capped it and waited with bated breath to see if any of her relatives had heard.

 

They hadn't.

 

Darcy lay back with her eyes closed for another half hour, concentrating on her mother. Her smell. Her smile. Her hands, brushing Darcy's hair from her eyes. When Darcy opened her eyes, her Mom was there, siting on the edge of the bed, smiling. Darcy smiled back.

 

"My Grandmother had the gift." Darcy's Mom said, reaching out and stroking Darcy's hair. "A different gift than you. She could heal anything." She sighed. "Any scrape, any burn. I suspect she put a bit of the supernatural into her cooking. She could always make me feel whole, and loved with just a cookie." Ghostly warm lips pressed onto Darcy's forehead. "Just like yours, love."

 

She leaned back, and Darcy steeled herself before slipping the matches from their hiding spot.

 

"I had it too, you know. Grandmother taught me to control it." Darcy's Mom mused. "It was safer for me to hide it." Darcy slipped a match from the box, ready to strike it, but her Mom stilled her hand, staring directly at the match. It lit silently in Darcy's hand, and she knew exactly where to throw it.

 

The gown was engulfed in seconds, like it was made out of tinder. No one even woke until it had spread to the bed across from Darcy and the posts collapsed with a loud crash. Darcy sat in her bed, watching the room go up in flames with interest while her grandmother produced a key and fled the room ahead of her daughters.

 

When they were gone, Darcy tiptoed to the door, looking left and right. She spotted her Mom, in the opposite direction of the staircase, in front of a door. Darcy made her way there, and upon opening the door realized it was a linen closet. Hearing metallic footsteps marching towards her, Darcy hid, with her mother next to her. When the Doombots were past, Darcy's Mom disappeared. Darcy lit a match and dropped it onto a pile of blankets before following her.

 

Darcy's Mom seemed to have a plan. They moved from hiding place to hiding place, setting everything in sight on fire. Darcy had never had so much fun, and they giggled together madly when they found a closet full of green capes and left only cinders behind.

 

When about a quarter of the castle seemed to be burning, her Mom led her through a door to an outdoor walkway between castle turrets. When they were halfway over it there was a break in the clouds and a metallic glint caught her eye. She stopped and stared at the moonlit wall opposite of her.

 

"Bucky?" She called out, confused. He froze, halfway up a rope she couldn't see, and gaped over his shoulder.

 

" _Darcy_?" He hissed.

 

"What are you doing here?" Darcy asked in her normal voice, waving cheerily. "I thought the Avengers couldn't come to Latveria."

 

" _We came for you_!" His head whipped back and forth, expecting someone to hear her and snatch her away again.

 

"Hey, cool!" Darcy. "I was wondering how I'd get a ride back to the States."

 

" _Stay there. I'll come get you_." He stage whispered.

 

"Oh, naw." Darcy's Mom was at the other side of the walkway, gesturing impatiently. "I'll meet you out front."

 

" _Darcy_!" Darcy just waved again, and followed her Mom through to the castle's opulent kitchen.

 

"Ooft." Darcy observed. "Its almost a shame to burn this down." She pressed a few buttons on one of the gas ovens. It could be set to start on a timer. "Almost."

 

They gathered a mountain of recipe books into the center of the room. As Darcy set the ovens and ripped off the knobs, her Mom lit the books.

 

Twenty minutes. Darcy grabbed an armful of bottles of oil and followed her Mom.

 

With her mother's spirit powering it, the fire was taking the castle apart already. The Doombots fighting the inferno or carrying Doom's possessions out ignored Darcy as she made her way to the throne room.

 

Her Mom stood at the doorway. She couldn't seem to cross the threshold, but she watched approvingly as Darcy started to douse the banners with oil.

 

"Did you run from Bucky?!" Steve demanded as he ran through the door. Darcy's Mom blinked out of sight.

 

Darcy danced just out of his reach and splashed some more oil on the altar.

 

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled impatiently as he finally reached her under the arch and got a hand on her shoulder. Darcy surveyed the room one last time before grabbing his collar and yanking his lips down to hers. Steve froze, giving Darcy time to wrap herself around him and deepen the kiss.

 

"What are you doing!?" Bucky bellowed as he stalked up the aisle. Darcy let go of Steve to launch herself at Bucky. When he caught her she started to plant a hard and fast kiss on him that he deepened almost immediately. Darcy bit his lower lip once before pushing off of his chest.

 

"My Mom told me to fuck up this room in particular." Darcy said as she grabbed Bucky's hand and pulled him back towards the door.

 

"What?" Steve asked, dumbstruck.

 

"Desecrate, actually, was the term she used."

 

" _What_?"

 

"Come on, I've gotta burn it fast, I set the kitchen to explode pretty soon."

 

"You set all these fires?" Steve asked incredulously as he followed them out. Bucky still hadn't closed his mouth after their kiss.

 

Instead of replying Darcy lit the last match against the doorframe and tossed it behind them. As she watched the flames race up to the front of the room the boys stood gaping at her.

 

"You little COW!" Lafcadio screeched, coming up behind them, followed closely by Doom. Bucky spun to face them as Steve shoved her behind him, widening his stance to cover her a little. Before anyone could do anything more, the smoke from the chapel twisted and started to form a shape. Darcy crowed with delight as her mother appeared for everyone to see. Her long hair billowed beautifully, and her arms were held wide. The smile on her face was awful, and terrifying, and focused on Lafcadio. Steve started backing up, and Darcy saw Lafcadio shrink back towards an unmoving Doom.

 

"What the FUCK." Bucky cursed, trying to take in the whole scene as he stepped along with Steve.

 

Mary Lewis sprang forward, engulfing Lafcadio and dragging him roughly over the cobblestones into the chapel. As far as Darcy knows, no body was ever recovered.

 

Doom's face was hard to read behind a metal mask, but he seemed like he was seething. He raised his right arm, pointing out the entryway.

 

"GET. OUT."

 

Steve threw Darcy over his shoulder and started to run, Bucky close on his heels. Darcy flipped Doom the bird before he stomped deeper into the castle and out of view.

 

"YEAH!" Darcy bellowed as she watched the a wave of sparks spill from the throne room entry, raising her fists in the air triumphantly. Her Mom appeared one last time, lingering in front of the fire. Darcy heard her sigh happily and… felt her leave, before Steve and Bucky crashed through the front and scrambled out of the castle.


	20. In Which Avoidance Abounds

The rest of the team was assembled on a nearby hill. Steve put her on her feet by the jet and immediately started cataloging her injuries, running his hands gently over her exposed skin. When he found no more broken bones, he dragged her forward into a tight embrace, trembling just a bit. Darcy settled her chin on his shoulder and reached out to take Bucky's hand. They shared a brief moment before Clint dived at her, needing to know for himself that she was safe. Natasha and Thor were close behind him, and as Darcy was passed around she lost sight of her guys.

Tony was standing apart from them all, recording the fire on his phone and cackling. Darcy joined him just as the kitchen blew, taking out an outside wall. The tower above it collapsed, falling in towards the center of the castle.

 

"I've never gotten to burn down a castle." He whined.

 

"I highly recommend it." Darcy said. "You know Stark, I _get_ you now. Building suits of armor and beating the shit out of terrorists. Revenge is the _best_."

 

"Damn straight." Tony agreed, giving her a quick side hug. They quietly watched the castle continue to fall apart as Doctor Banner joined them.

 

"The Other Guy is impressed." He remarked as he gazed at the carnage.

 

"Your pants are still in there." Darcy remembered. "Sorry."

 

Bruce shrugged in a very zen way. "Tony has replacements delivered once a month."

 

Clint put his hands on Darcy's shoulders to guide her towards the jet. "Hospital. Now." Since the castle was really just smoldering now, Darcy let herself be drawn away.

 

Steve and Bucky occupied a bench together towards the back of the jet. They were covered in soot, and looked exhausted as they leaned on each other. Darcy was maneuvered into a chair behind the cockpit. Falcon flipped her a salute from the pilots seat before Bruce sat down in front her, opening up a first aid kit. Clint eschewed a seat altogether, flopping down in front of her. He laid his arm over her lap and leaned his head back against the seat. Darcy's stomach churned as she looked at the back of his head.

 

Her mom had said… Something about magic cookies. That Darcy made magic cookies, and probably pies and oh god, what if she'd accidentally magicked Clint and everyone else she'd ever cooked for?

 

Shit. That was too shitty to really think about. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

 

Darcy fell asleep before they'd even cleared Latverian airspace.

 

* * *

 

 

They went to New York. Jane was waiting in medical for Darcy,excited and yammering over the doctor until he finally gave up on giving Darcy an exam before Jane left. Apparently Jane, Erik, Tony, and Mr. Fantastic had created some kind of space prison (negative space, Darcy!) and Thor and Captain America had managed to shoot him into it (transport blah blah, particles blah blah, unescapable blah blah blah). Darcy was relieved that Hydra was less of a problem, but also absolutely terrified of what she'd find in the lab when she got back to work.

 

(As it turned out, she found a hole in the lab. Sort of like a black hole, hovering in midair in the center of the room. It was a portal to negative space and if you looked right at it it made your skin crawl and break out in a cold sweat.)

 

She was cleared to leave Tony's medical ward a week after they landed. Some guy in a suit showed up to ask questions before she could finish being discharged but Darcy started crying in the middle of his second question and then Thor threw him out a window and no one tried again. Darcy elected to keep the worst of it to herself.

 

Tony gave her a suite in the tower on the same floor as Clint's. Since he had his own apartment in the city, Darcy basically had the floor to herself. Darcy felt sick to her stomach on Tony's tour of the rooms when she looked at the beautiful kitchen set up. Her meager belongings had already been moved in, and when Tony left and she was alone she smashed all of her glass and ceramic pie plates. The next day, she had Jarvis arrange to rip out the stove and oven.

 

After that, she hardly ever spent time in the apartment, hanging around the common area floor late into the night, looking for distractions… and Steve and Bucky. They'd disappeared from the plane before Darcy came to, and never visited her in medical.

 

Three days into her discharge, it became clear they were avoiding her. Well fine, two- or three- could play at that game. She told Jarvis not to give them any information about her should they ask, and to keep them out of her rooms. She might have imagined it, but he sounded very approving when he repeated her orders back to her.

 

She started taking the Ambien she'd been prescribed, rather than haunt the tower at all hours. She became determined to put the whole escapade - Steve and Bucky included - behind her. She managed to wrap it up tight, and shove it down to the very edge of her consciousness, never speaking about it. Ever.

 

If it came up, unbidden, violent, terrifying, in her dreams, that stayed between her and Jarvis.

 

The news was never played on any tv or internets in Darcy's presence, which she was ok with, until she found a copy of the Daily Bugle in the PT gym. Darcy's Facebook profile pic took up the whole front page.

 

**Victim?**

 

**Or Arsonist?**

 

Darcy was still staring at it when her trainer came over to her, but when he saw her face he quickly just turned around and walked away. Darcy returned to the empty common room.

 

"Jarvis. Turn on Fact Channel News." She demanded.

 

"Miss, I have been instructed-"

 

"Jarvis."

 

Fact Channel blinked on, with aerial footage of Doom's decimated castle.

 

Breaking News: Leader of Latveria Missing read the the banner on the footage. Fiancé Refuses to Comment

 

"Shit!" Tony said, skidding into the room. Darcy turned to face him, slowly. "Shit." He repeated, raising his hands into the air.

 

"Who the fuck is running press for you, that asshole fireplug on the X-Men with the claws?"

 

"Uh-"

 

Darcy shook the paper at him. "What the fuck, Tony?"

 

"I'll fix it." Tony promised. Darcy just raised her left eyebrow.

 

"I will!" He swore.

 

"When my endless internship finally ends, I need to be employable, Tony." Darcy waved the paper in his face. "DOES THIS LOOK EMPLOYABLE, TONY!?"

 

"I'll hire you." He promised. "Lifetime job, as long as you want it, whatever you want. Hell, I'll adopt you. Adult adoption is a thing. You'll never have to work again. Please don't be mad?"

 

Darcy considered that. An evil smile started to spread across her face. Tony looked worried.

 

"But you can't smash bottles of scotch anymore if you're a Stark. We have rules about that kind of thing."

 

* * *

 

 

"And we're back with you on this balmy Tuesday, bringing you an exclusive interview with the fiancé of Latveria's missing - possibly deceased - ruler. Darcy Lewis. Your thoughts on recent events?"

 

They were sitting in the generic "informal" set - two beige armchairs on a dark sound stage.

 

"Sure, J. Jonah." Darcy folded her hands over her knee and looked straight at her camera. "It's been weeks since Doctor Doom kidnapped me. Why are you still running 'Breaking News' banners about it? It literally stopped being breaking news like three weeks ago. Knock it off. Actually, while we're at it-" Darcy raised her finger to shush J. Jonah Jameson when he started to bluster. "What's with this 'fiancé' bullshit? I was kidnapped. From American soil, taken against my will across several international borders - shut the FUCK UP - and nearly forced into a marriage I was explicitly clear I did not want."

 

Darcy reached into her jacket, and the cameraman actually ducked. "So here's your exclusive: you've been served." Darcy tossed the files into his lap. "It's slanderous to call me an arsonist, and libelous to print it. There's an order of protection in there barring you or your employees from contacting me or coming any closer than 30 feet to me, just for funsies." Darcy uncrossed her legs and stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to with my time than look at your stupid face. Eat shit and die, Jameson."

 

Tony gave her a thumbs up before hooking elbows with her to escort her out. Adrenaline swept her through the building, but by the time they were in the limo her hands started shaking. She frowned, and took a deep breath before pressing a hand to her belly. Tony passed her a glass of something bracing.

 

"That was fun while it was happening, but I'm definitely not loving the crash."

 

"Story of my life, Lewis."


	21. In Which Ends Are Beginnings

It was a week since her profanity laden appearance on Fact Channel News had rekindled Darcy's internet fame, but the Internet was very respectful of her clear desire for privacy. Or scared that Stark would sue anyone who got too pushy. Other than surreptitious pictures taken of her by tourists, Darcy seemed free to come and go from the tower unbothered. Life was getting on.

 

So, _of course_ the Tower went into a screaming lockdown when she got back from her first take out run. She was halfway across the plaza to the front door when the alarms first sounded. She dropped her bags and hustled, but the door wouldn't budge for her. As she watched, metal walls slid down behind the glass and she slapped the door in frustration.

 

" _Not cool, Jarvis_!"

 

"Miss Lewis."

 

Darcy kicked the door for good measure before she turned around, finger already wagging.

 

"I am not paying for your damn castle, asshole."

 

This being New York, she and Doom were enclosed in a semi-circle of rubber-neckers holding their phones out and recording. Doom was mere inches from her.

 

"You have power in you, Miss Lewis. I can help you grow it, control it." He spoke too quietly for the growing crowd to hear.

 

Darcy matched his tone. "Gee thanks, but I've got it covered."

 

"Oh?"

 

"I'm going to be ignoring it for the rest of my life."

 

"…As you wish."

 

There was a whoosh of wind from above Darcy's head, and before she could even flinch, Steve and Bucky landed on either side of her dressed for battle. Bucky sort of flexed and growled, while Steve grabbed her arm to press her up against the useless doors. Darcy shook him off with a glare.

 

Doom took a step back, sweeping his cape to the side to give the tourists a clear shot.

 

"This woman," He raised his voice. "Is a menace to civilized society. Darcy Lewis, you are hereby, now and forevermore, banned from the kingdom of Latveria, never to touch her sovereign soil again."

 

With that, he passed her a scroll - an honest to God, you gotta unroll from two ends it to read it scroll - and blasted into the air, leaving behind yet another crater in Tony's "front yard" to fill. Darcy rolled her eyes.

 

"Did her touch you?" Steve asked, reaching for her again.

 

"Fuck you." She shot back heatedly, not giving a damn what the tourists saw. Steve's hand stilled before he could touch her. The lockdown lifted, the doors opened, and Darcy stomped into the lobby.

 

"Darcy." Bucky matched her pace.

 

"Fuck you too, Barnes."

 

They let her enter the elevator alone.

 

* * *

 

 

Tony threw her a party in one of the tower ballrooms the next day to celebrate her exile and invited practically all of the mask and spandex the crew. Two were conspicuously absent.

 

Darcy threw herself headfirst into the party spirit, rocking a short skirt (with flats, alas), knocking back vodka with Natasha and dancing with Spiderman. Even the Fantastic Four showed up, though Darcy would have been happy if they'd left Reed Richards at home.

 

"If you're here anyway," she slurred, poking him in his rubbery chest, "you needta go down to my new lab and clean up your damn black hole. I hate it." The way his skin rippled was fascinating, so Darcy did it again.

 

" _Your_ lab?" Jane asked indignantly from the vicinity of Darcy's elbow. Darcy gave Jane a pitying look, because of course it was Darcy's lab, everyone knew that but Jane. And Bruce. Tony knew, though, because Jarvis had told him so.

 

Jane sighed.

 

Richards sniffed, wearing his most condescending expression. "I believe you're referring to our initial portal to the negative universe. A black hole would-"

 

"I'm going to need you to shut the fuck up." Darcy told him very earnestly, reaching waaaay up to put three fingers over his mouth. Johnny Storm choked on a laugh behind him. "This is my party." Darcy continued. "Tony said I could have whatever I wanted. And I want you to _shut the fuck up_ , and go fix the creepy hole you left in my lab."

 

Richards opened and closed his mouth a few times once Darcy drew her hand back before Jane stepped around Darcy and dragged him over to the elevator.

 

Johnny Storm grinned at her with a face that looked a lot like Steve's. But Steve had never been that happy to see her.

 

"I'll think about it." She told him. His grin only got wider. It gave Darcy's heart a weird, painful twinge. Natasha pulled her away, shaking her head and muttering in Russian.

 

Eventually there was a big toast. Thor hefted Darcy up onto one of his shoulders as Tony pulled a rope to reveal Doom's official proclamation scroll in a lighted glass box, to be moved to a spot of honor along with her official notice of the fine from the FCC, at a later date. There was cheering, and drinking, and a rousing game of "throw knives at a paper cutout of Doctor Doom" that somehow didn't land anyone in the hospital.

 

As quietly as she could, Darcy snagged Johnny Storm and shoved him into the elevator. They barely separated when the car reached her floor, and rather than open her apartment door once they reached it Johnny pressed her flush against it for a deep kiss and little bit of a grope. She was fumbling with the doorknob but then, between one breath and the next, Johnny disappeared.

 

Darcy staggered, drunk and surprised. Steve was there, steadying her and Bucky was down the hall standing over an unconscious Storm. Darcy felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop.

 

"What… The… FUCK!?" She screeched. Steve flinched and stepped back. Darcy stamped her foot and flailed her arms.

 

"You are fucking unbelievable, do you know that!?" She demanded. "You don't want me around! You've made that _perfectly_ clear! Well maybe now I don't want you, did you ever think of that before you started going around punching out my one night stands!?"

 

The elevator opened down the hall and Clint poked his head out.

 

"Darcy." Steve's face looked hard as marble. "You're in no condition to be-"

 

Darcy screamed, making all of them jump. Clint pulled back into the elevator. Johnny kept being unconscious.

 

"You didn't give a DAMN what my condition was when we got back to New York and you just _left me all alone_ in the hospital and in this _fucking_ apartment and _everywhere_ and you don't _get_ to give a damn now-" her face grew hot, and she knew she was a blotchy mess but- "you don't get to _abandon_ me and-and- I was _just a job for you_ and you made me think we were _at least friends_ you _son of a bitch_ -" and there were tears smearing all through her makeup and she couldn't talk anymore through the crying and Natasha was there, maneuvering Darcy into Clint's apartment.

 

Crying on Natasha's shoulder sucked because leather and tears don't really mix well and her shoulder was too narrow and also because it was Natasha. Clint came in behind them and took over.

 

"Ready to talk about it yet?" He asked as he ran his hand up and down her back.

 

" _I'm sorry_." Darcy wailed. Clint hugged her tighter. " _I think I magicked you_." He stiffened, but held on. Darcy ached at the amount of trust between them.

 

"Explain." Natasha's voice was cold.

 

" _There was this wine kind of stuff_ *hic* _and it turns out I can see dead people and_ -" Darcy blew her nose into Clint's sleeve-" _my Mom told me my great grandma could make magic cookies and so could I_ -" Clint put his hand to the back of her head and pressed her harder into his shoulder to shut her up.

 

"That makes no sense." He said, kindly.

 

" _My life doesn't make any goddamn sense anymore_."

 

* * *

 

 

Her life didn't make any more goddamn sense after Natasha and Clint managed to sober her up and get the whole story out of her. But it felt good to apologize to Clint about the possibly magic pies and hear him say that there was nothing to forgive. They all piled into bed together after Darcy finally passed out.

 

Jarvis woke them up before dawn.

 

"Miss Lewis, it seems that you're needed."

 

Darcy didn't even question it. She rolled out from under Natasha and padded out to the hallway. Storm was still there, asleep now, rather than unconscious. He sat up and blinked at her as the elevator closed.

 

She could hear the yelling before the doors even opened. When they did, she took a duffel bag to the gut that slammed her back against the wall.

 

" _Darcy_!!"

 

Both Steve and Bucky crouched in front of her looking agonized. Steve was tousled and only wearing black boxer-briefs, while Bucky was fully dressed. She reached out her hands, one to each, and they pulled her out of the elevator and on to their floor. She was set on the couch, and Steve reached out to check her ribcage before he balled his hands up and pressed them against his legs, scowling at them.

 

Darcy was feeling much more zen than the last few days. She tiredly opened her arms and sort of slid off the couch to hug Steve. He was so surprised that he fell back, taking them both to the ground. Darcy just pressed her face into his chest to suppress a yawn.

 

She rolled her head to the side to lazily watch as Bucky kicked the elevator doors, cursing. He gave up, turned around, and slid to ground. He thunked his head back against the doors once and gave Darcy a look of defeat.

 

She smiled back at him.

 

Slowly, Steve wound his arms around Darcy. He rolled them onto their sides on the floor and pressed his face into her hair.

 

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm so sorry for all of it. I messed up… I messed up everything."

 

Darcy heard a broken sob from Bucky before she felt him kneeling behind her back. "You should stay far away from us. We fucked it all up." He choked. Steve reached out to him with his right arm at the same time that Darcy did and together they pulled Bucky onto the floor. They were a messy tangle of limbs and tears for a long time. Eventually Darcy insisted that they move to a bed where they fell into an uneasy doze.

 

* * *

 

 

She surfaced with a start, blinking up at Steve and Bucky, who were already alert, one on each side of the bed around her. She grabbed Bucky's arm and pulled him down on her.

 

"Friends?" She demanded huskily. He didn't answer right away. Darcy wriggled around before laying herself out over Bucky to pin him down, because he was her biggest flight risk.

 

"I'm not moving till you admit we're friends." She flailed around until she found Steve with her left hand, wrapping her fingers as far around his wrist as they would go. Bucky groaned.

 

"No running away." She said firmly to the room at large. Bucky shifted his legs up to brace against the bed, and she took the opportunity to wrap her thighs around one of his in a move modified from Natasha's signature. "No more hiding from me."

 

"Oh for-" Bucky yanked her face up to his for a hard kiss. In her shock, her grips loosened, and she found herself under him, legs spread to admit his hips.

 

After an eternity, he drew back.

 

"But… You… Steve!" She babbled, clutching at the collar of his t-shirt. Steve pushed between them to take her lips himself. When he pulled back she gaped up at both of them.

 

Their lips met right over her face in a struggle for dominance so hot she thought she might combust. They broke apart, and came down to press both of their foreheads to both sides of her face. They all took a moment to breathe, and think.

 

"This ok, Darcy?" Steve asked roughly, skimming his hand up her ribcage to settle just beneath her breast.

 

"Please say yes." Bucky whispered, pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek. "Please doll. Need you so much, God, so beautiful, so alive-"

 

"God." Steve murmured. "How did you get so deep inside us?"

 

"Fuck, I don't know," Darcy breathed. "I thought it was just me. You two are like, eternal love. Where would I be in that?"

 

Bucky whispered a few ideas into her ear about where she could be that turned her face beet red.

 

* * *

 

 

"Ta-da!" She sang, throwing her arms wide as she flopped back onto the mattress.

 

Steve groaned, covering his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.

 

"You ain't done yet, Doll." Bucky growled as he reached for her again.

 

* * *

 

 

Three days later, Darcy was happily settling in to her new roles at the tower. Jane and Bruce's labs were connected, and Darcy could bounce between their labs easily when they needed care and feeding. The rest of her workday was spent in Tony's workshop, trading snark and coffee between explosions. Her time off…

 

Well it wasn't all spent in Steve and Bucky's bed. Sometimes they went down to the gym and got each other all worked up before returning to the bed.

 

Really, though, they were in a honeymoon phase. Darcy knew it. They would have to surface at some point to rejoin the team socially.

 

So that afternoon, she forced herself to visit the common rooms instead of the gym.

 

"Coming up for air?" Clint asked with a grin. Darcy rolled her eyes at him and settled on the couch across from him, pulling her new knitting bag onto her lap. He cued up Dog Cops as she settled in to work on her new project.

 

Scarves, she had decided after one explosion and one condemned missile silo/snake pit (because no one was ever going any-fucking-where near it again), might be cursed, so she'd given up on warming her own neck for the time being and moved on to smaller knits.

 

Tony, Steve, and Bucky walked off the elevator just as she had shoved her fist inside the knitted tube, judging the length against the grande Starbucks tumbler placed on the coffee table before her. Tony stopped dead in his tracks as Steve and Bucky joined her on the couch.

 

"What is _that_ , Lewis?" He demanded lasciviously, waggling his eyebrows aggressively. Bucky tensed up beside her at the insinuation, but Darcy replied before he could form a defense.

 

"A cock sock." She pulled it taut, to a little more than halfway up to her elbow. The room fell dead quiet as Tony gawped. Steve leaned around Bucky to get a better view, looking contemplative.

 

"Got a few more inches to go there, Darce."

 

"NO." Clint barked, covering his ears and scrunching his eyes shut.

 

"Wut." Tony asked flatly.

 

"Willy warmer?" Darcy tried again. Bucky was actually blushing. It was adorable. Darcy was pretty close to the giggles, but she fought valiantly to keep a straight face and waved her yarn covered hand at Tony. He just backed away, silently, looking at Steve with some serious respect. Just before the doors closed, she reached over Bucky's head and received a muffled high five from Steve while she stared Tony dead in the eyes.

 

"NO!" Clint yelped, diving into the nearest vent. Darcy surveyed her guys, one blushing and stunned, the other grinning so broadly his face might break in two.

 

"Playoffs?" She asked.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn't conventional. It sure as hell wasn't easy. Frankly they could have kept the entire profession of psychiatry afloat all by themselves if any one of them were mature enough to seek help.

 

Darcy still hadn't touched an oven. Bucky was convinced that he and Steve would lead her to a messy and untimely death. Steve got unreasonably upset if Darcy ever skipped a meal.

 

But the next morning, Stark pointed at her accusingly when he saw her using her newly knitted coffee cup cozy in his workshop when she brought Bucky and Steve in to get the arm serviced; and when Darcy brought the mug to her face to lewdly lick the cozy from bottom to top Steve's face lit up with the brightest combination of blush and mirth Darcy had ever seen.

 

They were building something beautiful, these three broken people. The most solid foundation that maybe any of them ever had in their lives. They were all loving every moment of it.

 

That's what matters, right?


End file.
